


In Another Life: Beginnings

by WritinginCT



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Angst, Drama, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Polyamory, Rape, Romance, Slavery, Threesome - F/M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-01-22
Updated: 2010-01-26
Packaged: 2017-10-07 17:27:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritinginCT/pseuds/WritinginCT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where you are either military or a slave to the military, Jack O'Neill hates slavery and yet winds up with two. And though he gives them his protection, they steal his heart in return.</p><p>Jack/Daniel, Jack/Daniel/OFC -more info in story notes<br/>    Warning for AU, Slave!fic, and non-con, rape, and torture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU fic I've had in my head for a while. I actually wrote the middle of this epic a while back and had to write the beginning to tie it all together. First part of fic is Jack/Daniel and does contain some Daniel/OMC non-con/abuse. There are graphic non-con/rape scenes and descriptions of rape and torture. Later chapters will be Jack/Daniel/OFC as they take in another abused slave.
> 
> It's a weird AU and I tried not to make the early chapters an information dump. This is the first of a planned series that will stretch into the NCIS fandom.

Jack was engaged in one of his favorite Saturday morning activities, watching a sleeping Daniel. It was a little thing really, just watching Daniel's chest rise and fall, and seeing his face peaceful and relaxed. Daniel's face was never that relaxed when he was awake. The weight of the struggle against the Gou'ald had put an almost permanent furrow in Daniel's brow. But right now, Daniel was relaxed and that made Jack want to keep him here in bed all day just to keep that angelic repose on his face.

As the sun rose and lit the bedroom further, Jack watched as the sun moved it's way up towards Daniel's waist, where his hands were gently resting on his stomach. The glint off of the inch-wide gold cuff permanently soldered around Daniel's right wrist made Jack smile. It let the world know that Daniel was his. Completely his.

That gold band also protected Daniel. It elevated his status at a glance from slave to pledged concubine. And unless someone wanted to face the wrath of the officer that the concubine was pledged to, the pledged concubine was treated with the highest courtesy and respect. They could not be ordered around or claimed like other slaves. They answered only to their pledged officer.

\---------------

Jack had claimed Daniel three years ago, before he was a General. The younger man had been assigned to work at the mountain as a linguist. He had deciphered the Stargate and opened up the galaxy to them five years ago. Jack had asked then General Hammond to let Daniel be part of his team, SG-1. And for two years Daniel worked as part of SG-1, going off world on missions and working to exhaustion in his office translating the growing number of artifacts being brought back by the SG teams. He slept in an assigned slave cell at the mountain as he had no master. Unclaimed slaves were not allowed to roam independently and were carefully monitored.

Jack did not have slaves. He had chosen a breeder, Sara, earlier in his career to give him a child. But with the death of his beloved son, Charlie, he released his claim to Sara, and threw himself into his work, secretly hoping to be killed in the line of duty. It was just after this that he met Daniel. And it was as if a page had been turned in the book of his life. His humor and laughter returned, along with a sense of protectiveness about his team. Especially Daniel.

It took about a year for Jack to admit to himself that he wanted Daniel. He could have easily claimed Daniel for himself, as a Colonel he was allowed a quota of ten slaves of varying classes. He didn't have any, down deep inside Jack, he felt that slavery was wrong. That it was wrong to own another person, so he refused to claim any for himself, letting his lack of slaves be his quiet protest against the system.

Jack was also known for doing what he could to protect slaves from abuse. He never hesitated to throw his rank around if he saw a junior officer abusing a slave, even one that they had claimed. As a military officer he could claim any unclaimed slave in the system or claim any slave claimed by a lesser officer. And he had done it on occasion when warranted to protect a slave.

According to the law, there was a very fine line between the use of a slave and abuse. Slaves in the eyes of the law, existed to serve the needs of the military and its officers. No matter what those needs were. Slaves were placed in classes based on intellect, talent, and physical appearance, and were assigned job functions based on their abilities. Those scoring highly in those three categories were also designated as breeders, to be used by the military officers to produce children. The class system existed on paper, but the reality being that slaves were required to submit to any and all orders given to them by a military officer. That included orders of a sexual nature.

The military had long given up trying to curtail homosexuality. It was simply neither encouraged or discouraged. It was just accepted. Secretly studies had been done proving that soldiers that could get a "buddy fuck" or release their sexual tensions on a slave prior to a mission proved to be more efficient soldiers with a lower mortality level. What the study had also revealed, that was quickly buried, was that in the specialized forces units that there was a higher degree of perversion and a tendency to sexually abuse available slaves of either gender. Given the necessity of these special forces, their dalliances with the slaves were ignored, or covered up if need be.

The only law that was so sacrosanct that no one dared break it for fear of the punishment, was that of the unauthorized deflowering of a certified virgin. The punishment was severe. The immediate loss of military status and complete physical and chemical castration. Once completed the offender was sentenced to life at a penal compound to be used as recreation slaves for those imprisoned. Most men and women receiving this sentence took their own lives shortly after arriving at the compound. The idea of being fucked by countless prisoners a day without the opportunity to receive any pleasure from it more than they could bear.

\---------------

Jack knew that Daniel had not had an easy time in the system, but he seemed to have settled into life at the SGC reasonably well and had started to grow close to his teammates. And as the two year mark of their introduction rolled around, Jack was finding it harder and harder to keep his hands off of Daniel. Little did Jack know, that Daniel welcomed all those innocent seeming casual touches. He craved them actually. And he kept hoping for the day that maybe they would progress to something a little less casual.

Jack wanted Daniel. He wanted Daniel's hands on his body, wanted Daniel's mouth on his cock, and he wanted to bury himself deep in Daniel's body and feel the younger man arch and buck beneath him. But there was a problem. Jack couldn't have Daniel without formally claiming him. Daniel was a certified virgin. And as horny as that thought made Jack, being the first to breach that beautiful body, he didn't want to make a formal claim. Didn't want to own Daniel. He wanted Daniel to come to his bed because _Daniel_ wanted to come to his bed, not because he had been ordered to.

But all that changed late one night. Their mission had gotten them back to the SGC late and they were all exhausted. After showering and grabbing some food in the commissary, Jack went and crashed on a bed in his officer's quarters instead of driving home. He tossed and turned for a while, something niggling at him. The light bulb had gone off over his head and he realized that he hadn't seen Daniel in the locker room or the commissary. He threw his boots back on and headed for Daniel's office, planning on chiding him for not taking better care of himself and ordering him to eat and sleep.

The scene that he walked into in Daniel's office looked like vandalism. There were books and papers thrown everywhere and a broken coffee mug in the middle of it. The desk lamp was the only light on in the room, and its normal low light was even dimmer because it was laying sideways on the desk. Jack was about to turn and call security when a he heard a little sniffle come from the area behind Daniel's desk.

Jack walked towards the desk, "Daniel? That you?"

He could see BDU encased legs stretched out and boots that he recognized as Daniel's. Jack set the desk lamp upright and went around the desk to look at Daniel. What he saw almost broke his heart. Daniel's glasses had been broken and they hung by a single ear piece and he had the makings of a good shiner starting. His nose was dribbling blood, and there was a vivid red hand print on his cheek. Daniel was holding a blood soaked tissue on the inside of his lower lip. His other hand was desperately trying to wipe something off of the front of his shirt and face before Jack could see it.

But it was too late, Jack had seen the semen, and knew instantly what had happened. It wasn't the first time he had seen a slave forced to perform oral sex, and sadly he was sure it wouldn't be the last. This form of abuse was a favorite of those cowards afraid of the deflowering penalty, they instead just forced the slaves to use their mouths.

Daniel couldn't meet Jack's eyes. He didn't want to see the pity there, didn't want to see Jack's anger. But he did want to crawl into Jack's arms and sob, and let himself be comforted. He wanted to feel safe, something that he only ever felt when they were off world and he slept next to Jack in their tent.

Jack was seeing red. He would deal with whoever had done this, but first he had to take care of Daniel, both physically and emotionally. Jack reached out and put his hand on Daniel's shoulder, with the other hand he grabbed the corner of a bandanna he could see sticking out of Daniel's nearby pack, "Hey. Let's try this instead, huh?"

Without looking up Daniel nodded and lowered the soggy tissue and allowed Jack to take a quick look at it. Damn, the inside of his lip needed stitches from being ground up against his teeth as some bastard shoved his dick down Daniel's throat. Jack worked very hard to contain his emotions. "Danny, I think you need a couple stitches. C'mon let's go get you fixed up and a hot shower okay?"

Daniel wanted to refuse, wanted to just crawl under his desk and hide from the world. But he knew he couldn't. Because although Jack's words were in the form of a request, Daniel was a slave and had no right to refuse. Just like he had no right to refuse Major Arlis when he ordered Daniel to his knees to blow him in front of four other Marines.

All he had wanted to do was put down his coffee on the desk before complying. That was all he wanted. But the moment he said, "Just let me..." he had been backhanded and things just escalated from there.

Jack pulled Daniel to his feet making sure he was steady on his feet. Then he said softly, "Let's take this shirt off, huh." And he quickly unbuttoned the soiled BDU shirt and slipped it off Daniel's shoulders, making a point of throwing it in a nearby trashcan. The black of Daniel's t-shirt underneath made him look even paler, but at least he wouldn't be humiliated walking through the corridors to the infirmary.

He could see Daniel trying to keep it together, but he couldn't stop the shivers from starting. And he still wouldn't look at Jack.

Jack tucked a finger under Daniel's chin and forced Daniel's eyes to meet his, "Daniel, this was not your fault. Do you hear me? No matter what anyone says, you did nothing to deserve this. And I promise you, I _will_ deal with whoever did this. Now we're going to the infirmary and get that lip stitched, then you're coming back to my officer's quarters for the night to take a hot shower and get some sleep."

Daniel's eyes got a little wild, slaves were not allowed in the officer's quarters. Well, not officially allowed. He knew that there were a lot of slaves warming beds in those quarters. He just didn't want rumors to start about Jack. It would cause him problems and Daniel didn't want that. He shook his head adamantly, the cloth stuffed in his lip making it near impossible for him to speak.

Jack rolled his eyes, "It's fine, Daniel. Trust me. Okay?"

The crooked, broken glasses made Daniel looked like a waif, and accentuated those crystal blue pools beneath them. Pools threatening to start spilling over. Daniel needed to keep it together just a little longer.

He nodded to Jack and they headed for the infirmary. When the doctor on duty asked what happened, Jack just gave him a look and the doctor hastily scribbled something down on the chart. In short order Daniel's lip was stitched and a spare pair of glasses pulled from the dozen pairs Jack had ordered the infirmary to keep on hand for Daniel, his penchant for loosing them on off world missions legendary.

With a couple of good painkillers and an icepack in hand the doctor released Daniel to Jack's care for the rest of the night.

\---------------

Once in Jack's quarters Jack nudged Daniel in the direction of the shower while he dug out some clean sweatpants and a t-shirt for him. He left them on the counter in the bathroom for Daniel and went and sat at the computer in the corner and logged in. His mind had been spinning since he found Daniel on the floor, he needed to protect Daniel but he couldn't do that in their current positions. He made the only decision he could to protect him, he just hoped it didn't drive a wedge between them and destroy the relationship that they shared. One quick emailed form later, it was done. Jack had claimed Daniel.

He heard the bathroom door open and Daniel pad out into the room.

Jack walked over to where Daniel was standing with his arms wrapped around himself. "Daniel, you know I would do anything in the world to protect you, right?"

Daniel looked up sadly and mumbled around his stitches, "I know, Jack. This wasn't your fault either. It's just the way things are." If Jack would just claim him, he thought to himself, that would solve most of the problems Daniel had at the mountain. No one would ever dare mess with Colonel Jack O'Neill's claimed slave.

"I hate the way things are, Daniel. You know I don't own slaves. I've only ever claimed someone to protect them, then I turn them over to someone decent. It's not right to own another person." He reached out and put his hand gently on Daniel's unbruised cheek, "And I've never wanted to claim you because I wanted you to have a choice, to be with me or not. But I can't protect you like this anymore. And what happens the next time when it's more than just a blowjob? You know they'll kill you when they're done to avoid the sentence. And I don't think I could live with myself if that happened, Danny."

Daniel was trying very hard not to lean into that hand on his cheek, he focused on Jack's words, trying to glean any hidden meaning from them. "So what can we do, Jack? I'm a slave. An unclaimed slave who doesn't have any right to say no. This wasn't the first time, Jack. It won't be the last. You can't glue yourself to my side to protect me."

Jack's eyes locked on Daniel's, "I claimed you."

Daniel's eyebrows shot up at that, "What? When?"

"While you were in the shower. We'll pick up the paperwork and your id tags first thing in the morning. I'm sorry, Daniel, I didn't know what else to do." His thumb stroked Daniel's cheek softly as he prayed that Daniel would be okay with the decision.

"You...you claimed me? Honestly?" Daniel was in shock.

"Yeah, about ten minutes ago give or take."

"So what happens now?"

"Well, I think a good start would be you taking two of those horse pills from the doc, because your lip is due to start throbbing soon. Then we're gonna get some sleep and we'll sort it all out in the morning.

Daniel's mind was whizzing with all the implications. He nodded numbly.

They got ready for bed and crawled in, both men keeping as close to their respected edges as they could. Staring upwards at the blackness the room, Daniel's said quietly, "Did you really mean what you said about being with you, Jack?"

"I meant everything I said, Daniel. Everything."

Daniel's voice cracked, "So you're going to turn me over to someone decent then?" His fear of being sent away from the mountain and the closest thing he'd ever had to a family evident in his voice.

Jack felt like he had been sucker punched, he hadn't meant his words that way, "Oh fer crying out loud, Daniel. I'm not turning you over to anyone. You're mine. Bottom line. I just hope you don't hate me for it."

Daniel turned towards the edge of the bed and curled into an almost fetal position. The events of the past few hours had all been too much. He let the silent tears stream down his cheeks, he tried to keep his breathing slow and even, but he missed and one hiccupy hitch alerted Jack that Daniel was crying. It took him only a millisecond to plaster himself around Daniel and wrap his arms around the younger man.

In a way Jack was relieved to know that Daniel was crying rather than bottling it all up inside him. He had been beaten, raped, and claimed all in a very short time frame. He deserved to be a little emotional.

\---------------

He held Daniel through the night, grateful that he didn't have any nightmares. The uninterrupted sleep was healing. And Daniel's color was better in the morning. They showered and dressed in comfortable silence.

Before they left Jack's quarters, Jack needed something from Daniel.

"Daniel, I need a name."

"Can we just let it go, Jack?"

"No. And not for the reason you're thinking. If he's willing to do this to you, you have to know he's hurting other slaves too. It's not acceptable, Daniel."

Daniel sighed, he knew Jack was right, "Major Arlis."

Jack nodded but didn't say anything.

Their first stop was the Slave Oversight Officer. Jack was pleased to find their paperwork already processed and recorded. There was a little manila envelope clipped to the corner, Jack opened it to find Daniel's new id tags. It basically looked like a set of dog tags, with the exception that these tags had bright red Colonel insignias on them. It let officers know at a quick glance that Daniel was in fact claimed by a Colonel.

He turned towards Daniel and with a wink dropped them over his head. Daniel lifted them off his chest and looked at them, his expression unreadable. Those two little pieces of metal just made his life so much more than it was, he just didn't know what to say.

He looked up to meet Jack's eyes and realized fully for the first time that it wasn't just his own life that had changed, so had Jack's. He gave him a little grin, and Jack winked again.

"C'mon, I think we both need coffee."

Sitting in the commissary Jack brought up a subject that he hoped would be at least something pleasing for Daniel out of this whole mess, "So hey, here's something, you can leave the mountain now. Even drive and go shopping and stuff on your own. And you know I've got plenty of room at my house, we won't be tripping over each other."

The smile broke across his face as Daniel digested that, then he winced as it pulled on his stitches. Even though the smile was gone, his eyes were twinkling as he said, "I forgot all about that."

Jack just grinned and toasted Daniel with his coffee mug.

He walked Daniel to his office after they finished breakfast, and much to Daniel's surprise the mess had been picked up. He looked over at Jack who had plastered an innocent look on his face that lasted for about five seconds with Daniel staring at him, "Okay, I called Carter this morning and had her straighten up."

Daniel swallowed hard and wrapped his arms around himself, "Thanks, Jack. For everything."

Jack took a step towards Daniel and pulled him into a tight bear hug, "One step at a time, Danny. We'll figure it out, one step at a time. I promise."

\---------------

Jack's next stop was the security office, and when he left a short time later he had a video cassette in hand. He stuck his head in were Kawalsky and Ferretti were sitting, "Hey. I'm about to go beat up a Marine, you two wanna watch my six in case his friends want to play?

Kawalsky grinned, "This have anything to do with why Daniel's face looked like he walked into a door a couple dozen times this morning?" The news that Jack had claimed Daniel had already made the rounds and Kawalsky was thrilled, Daniel was a good guy and he knew Jack would treat him well.

Jack just gave him an "I have no idea what you're talking about" look.

They stopped at Teal'c quarters, "Hey, big guy, I've got something to settle with a Marine. Can you help Kawalsky and Ferretti make sure his friends play nice?"

"I assisted MajorCarter earlier today in DanielJackson's office. Am I to assume that this is related to the apparent altercation in DanielJackson's office?"

"That would be a safe assumption, T." Jack said with a grin.

When Jack and crew entered the gymnasium where Major Arlis was playing basketball with five other Marines, their game quickly ended when Kawalsky caught the rebounding ball.

The Marines to their credit did come to attention quickly. Jack walked over to Arlis and asked in a lighthearted way, "Have a little fun last night did we, Arlis?"

"Colonel?" Arlis asked, not giving anything away.

"Let me refresh your memory." Jack snarled and slammed the videotape into Arlis' chest. "This is from Daniel's office last night."

Arlis paled and his mouth fell open but before he could say a word he found himself being propelled backwards, one of Jack's hands still pushing on the videotape on his chest, Jack's other hand was on his balls squeezing so hard Arlis was sure they were going to explode.

The pain in his balls was excruciating and as he impacted with the wall he lost all ability to breath. Without letting up the pressure on Arlis' balls Jack said in a low, deadly voice, "All he wanted to do was put his coffee cup down, you stupid son of a bitch." He gave the tender sac in his hand a little twist for good measure causing Arlis to squeal like a girl.

The other Marines made a move to go to his aid but Teal'c, Ferretti, and Kawalsky had placed themselves between them and Jack. Kawalsky said with an evil little grin, "I think you're gonna wanna sit this one out boys."

Jack warned Arlis, "Listen to me, you piece of shit. I claimed him. He's mine. And I'm warning you, if you or any of your little friends lay a finger on him you'll beg to be castrated when I'm done with you. And remember this too, Arlis. I'm watching you. You'd better just watch yourself in general. Are we clear?"

Arlis didn't answer, he just shot daggers at Jack with his eyes. Which depending on how you look at it, was either very brave or very stupid considering that Jack still had a hold of his balls.

Balls which Jack gave another little squeeze to, "Are we clear?"

"Owww, yes. Crystal."

Jack glared at him a moment longer then abruptly let go, causing Arlis to loose his footing and land all sprawled out on the floor clutching his aching balls.

Jack scooped up the video tape and walked towards the others. He gave Kawalsky a quick pat on the back and left the gym with the others following.

As they headed down the corridor Kawalsky threw an arm around Jack, "That was classic, Jack. Very old school. I particularly liked it when he squealed like a girl. I think that made my year."

"Sometimes the oldies are the goodies, Charlie. God, he's a piece of work."

Side by side they walked with Teal'c and Ferretti not far behind. Charlie decided to give Jack his opinion of Arlis, "He's an ass, Jack. Actually that whole group that just came in on the last rotation leave a lot to be desired."

Jack thought about that for a minute and then stopped and turned around to face all three men, "Do me a favor guys, keep an eye out for any sort of trouble with those guys. If you hear of anything or see anything let me know. I doubt Daniel was the first slave they abused. But he will be the last if I have anything to say about it."

"You got it, Jack." Charlie answered without hesitation.

"I will endeavor to see if the slave population here has any information, O'Neill. They tend to speak freely with me, given my former status in the service of Apophis."

"Good idea, T. Everyone just tread lightly. I don't want them to know we're watching."

Ferretti looked a little concerned, "Colonel, we'll all keep an eye out for Daniel too. You know. Just in case."

"Thanks. Speaking of Daniel, I'm over due to hassle him. So again, gentlemen, I thank you for you assistance."

Jack started off down the corridor when Ferretti called out, "We got your six, Sir."

Kawalsky couldn't help himself and threw out, "Oh, and what a fine six it is, Sir."

The extra swish Jack put in his stride made them all laugh as they went their separate ways.

\---------------

Jack had checked on Daniel several time throughout the day, and though the bruises on his face had started to color vividly, Daniel's mood was lighter.

But now the day was over and Jack couldn't wait to get the hell out of the mountain, and he quipped, "Daniel, ready to make like a tree and leave?"

Daniel looked up from the photos he had been studying and blinked a couple of times to adjust his eyes and he asked a little confused, "Leave?"

"Yeah, as in you know, get in the truck and get the heck out of here for the weekend. We've got two days of down time remember?"

Daniel had lost himself in his work all day, trying desperately not to think about the events from the previous night. But now it came rushing back, Jack, claimed, able to live off base, able to drive, able to go places unescorted. It would be the freest he had ever been in his whole life. He beamed at Jack, not caring that his smile pulled on his stitches.

He stood and turned off the desk lamp, "I just need to grab some clothes from my quarters then I'm ready to go. It'll just take a minute."

They stepped into the hall and Daniel noticed a couple of empty boxes sitting outside his office door. He looked to Jack who said simply, "We're taking all your stuff home, Danny. You won't be staying here anymore."

Home. Daniel almost couldn't breath with the thought of that, he had never had a home. He had assigned quarters, or bunk space, but he had never had a home. He didn't trust himself to speak so he just nodded and picked up the boxes.

It didn't take long to pack up his quarters, sadly Daniel didn't have many possessions and they all fit in two boxes.

Daniel was quiet as they headed out of the mountain. He paused at the security check point. Normally, because Daniel had been unclaimed, it was required that forms be filled out and signed by the officer taking him off base. It was a hassle, but it was the process. Jack just grinned, "No more reams of paperwork just to take you to my house for pizza. From now on all you have to do is swipe your id badge and sign in or out. Painless."

"Save a tree." Daniel said as he swiped his card.

Jack chuckled and they got in the elevator. They got through the final security point and Daniel was taken aback when the airman on security duty said, "Have a nice weekend, sirs". Including Daniel in the honorific. Most of the time slaves were just ignored.

As they walked out the to the truck it finally struck Daniel as to why the officers and airmen that they had encountered were treating him with such respect, they all believed he was sleeping with Jack.

Jack noticed that Daniel was extremely quiet and lost in his own thoughts on the ride home, and he was pretty sure he knew that the reason was the way everyone had almost magically started treating him. Daniel's life and status had been turned upside down in such a short period of time he hadn't had any time to acclimate to it. He would though. And he would be safe, which was the important thing.

Jack pulled into his driveway but didn't turn the truck off, just put it in park. He wanted to talk to Daniel before they went in the house. "Daniel, look at me for a minute." He waited for Daniel's eyes to meet his before continuing, "Look. I know it's all been a lot to take in, but you and me are solid. Nothing's changed except you're gonna live here now. I don't have any expectations. Okay? This is your home now. You're safe here. And you're free to speak your mind at home, same as we do off world. We're equal partners in this, okay? We'll just have to figure it out as we go."

"Jack, you realize that most of the mountain thinks we're having sex? And that's why you claimed me?"

"Let'em think what they want. They're going to anyway. Nothing's changed between us. And as long as we know that, nothing else matters."

"Is that something you want, Jack?"

"What?"

"To have sex with me?" Daniel asked, matter of factly.

Jack dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel, he took a deep breath and reached into his jacket and pulled out the pack of Claim paperwork and handed it to Daniel. "Top form. Box twelve."

Daniel scanned the document quickly, most of it basic information about himself. Then he found box twelve. "_Is slave certified virgin? Yes. Is Deflowering authorization requested? Yes._" And stamped in red over the top of box twelve was "_Authorization approved_". He gulped at the thought.

Jack heard him gulp, and said quietly, "Daniel, I'm not going to lie to you. I do want you. I have for a really long time. But none of that is going to happen unless you want it to. It's your choice. It will always be your choice."

Daniel looked at Jack over his glasses, and replied equally quiet, "I've known my whole life that it was going to happen eventually, Jack. And I think I've wanted it to be you since I first met you. I...I like it when you touch me. I always have. But I don't want to ruin your career."

"My career will survive just about anything, Daniel. But this other thing is..." his words trailed off.

"Yeah. I know. We'll figure it out, Jack. One step at a time remember?" He reached over and rubbed Jack's shoulder.

"Yeah. Let's go inside. We'll order pizza and get you settled in. That'll work for a first step." Jack said with a grin.

\---------------

It took Daniel several weeks to really feel comfortable in his new status. Something as simple as a solo trip to the local library was both terrifying and exhilarating to him. Jack tried to be supportive but give Daniel some room to spread his wings a bit. He knew the Colonel insignia on Daniel's id tags would protect him.

They learned a lot about each other in those first early weeks. From who was the better cook (Daniel) to who was better at laundry (Jack), they worked through compromises that made living together very pleasant.

Their working relationship also improved, mainly because Daniel was relaxing now that he didn't have to fear Arlis or anyone else visiting his office to take advantage of him.

The one area that wasn't improving was the growing sexual tension between the two men. That particular elephant was making more and more appearances in the room, and it was setting both men a little on edge. Jack wanted Daniel, Daniel knew Jack wanted him, and he wanted Jack, and Jack knew Daniel wanted him. Wanting wasn't the problem, initiating was. Jack was adamant that he wouldn't initiate anything, and Daniel didn't have enough self-confidence to try.

They had almost gotten used to walking around the house with the buzz of arousal keeping them half hard. They didn't enjoy it, but they had almost gotten used to it. Almost.

The dam finally burst one night in spectacular form. They had both gone to bed in their separate bedrooms and Daniel couldn't sleep, he was restless. So after tossing and turning for a half hour he decided to get up and get a glass of milk. Padding out towards the kitchen on bare feet wearing just his boxer shorts he paused as he heard a sound coming from Jack's cracked bedroom door. He heard the whispery slap of skin on skin and Jack's ragged breathing and it only took him a moment to realize that Jack was jerking off. He had picked his foot up to continue to the kitchen but he wasn't fast enough and he heard his name moaned through Jack's lips as he came.

Daniel's cock had filled instantly, and Daniel had to grab himself tightly to keep from coming in his boxers. He forced himself to continue to the kitchen and stood there leaning with his forehead on the cool surface of the refrigerator willing his body to calm down. He didn't hear Jack approach behind him until he felt a light touch on his shoulder and a quiet, "Daniel?"

His body was so sensitive and so ready to explode that Jack's gentle touch made him visibly shiver. His body's needs overrode whatever potential argument his mind could come up and he found himself turning quickly and plastering Jack up against the wall as his mouth claimed Jack's.

To say that Jack was surprised would have been an understatement. But the surprise went out the window a second later when he realized he had his arms full of a very aroused Daniel. An aroused Daniel that was kissing him fiercely and grinding his very prominent erection into Jack's groin. And Jack did what he did best, he went with the flow. This was something he had wanted for so long, and fantasized about, but the reality was turning out to be so much better. His arms went around Daniel to clutch and claw at his bare back, encouraging him. He could feel his own cock reacting to Daniel's deep grinding even though he had just taken the edge off not even ten minutes ago.

The thin material of their boxer shorts did not hide the fact that Jack's cock was very interested in what Daniel was doing. Daniel didn't know what he was doing, all he knew was that he needed to come, and that he wanted to feel Jack's cock next to his. With a sound that was halfway between a groan and a whimper he reached down and shoved their boxers out of the way and ground himself even harder against Jack.

The first brush of their leaking cocks was so intensely pleasurable that it bordered on pain. And they both wanted more. Faster and faster Daniel tried to move, trying to, but not able to get enough friction to send him over the edge. There were mewing sounds coming from his throat and Jack could tell he was frustrated. Gently taking one of Daniel's hands in his, he guided it down and wrapped Daniel's long fingers around both of their erections. He knew he did the right thing when Daniel's mewing turned to deep groans. He was feasting on Daniel's neck, and his hands had made their way to grasp Daniel's ass.

Jack suckled on Daniel's earlobe causing him to squeeze their cocks even tighter which in turn made Jack grab Daniel's ass even tighter and spread the fleshy mounds. The wide open sensation and cool air sent Daniel over the edge and he exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, god, Jack. I'm coming. I'm coming."

Daniel's hoarse words and the molten spurts landing on his cock sent Jack right over the edge with Daniel and it was all he could do to grit out, "Me too, Daniel. God, me too."

They stood there plastered to each other until their breathing had returned to somewhat normal. Daniel stepped back after gently releasing their softening cocks. He couldn't meet Jack's eyes, but Jack wasn't having any of that and lifted Daniel's chin so he could see his eyes. Trying to let Daniel know that everything was okay without words he tried to say it with his eyes as he leaned in and softly pressed his mouth to Daniel's.

He leaned back with a grin, and said, "Not that I'm complaining, but what brought all this on?"

Daniel actually blushed but answered honestly, "I came out to get some milk and I heard you in your room."

Jack chuckled, "Guess I'll have to keep that in mind for future reference." He saw the tension leave from around Daniel's eyes and was relieved. Tonight was a start. He knew they wouldn't be doing anything else other than sleeping in the near future, Daniel just wasn't ready for it, not that Jack could have gotten it up again anytime soon anyway. "C'mon. Let's get cleaned up and go to bed. My legs feel like jello."

They headed for the bathroom and Daniel couldn't help but tease, "So I make you weak in the knees Jack?"

They washed up and collapsed on Jack's bed and slept curled up around each other like they would every night after that.

\---------------

Daniel was content. And if he dared allow himself to think it, he was even happy. He had a home, and for the first time in his life, he had some freedom.

Jack would not take any of Daniel's salary stipend; he had absolutely refused no matter how many times Daniel offered. He insisted that Daniel buy things for himself that made him happy. In heeding Jack's wishes, Daniel's personal library was growing quickly, and small, but interesting oddities from around the world started appearing in the house. And when he ran out of room in his bedroom, Jack was pleased that Daniel started putting items around the house and really treating it as if it was his home too, because it was.

Although Jack refused to let him buy groceries or pay the electric bill, Daniel found other ways to subtly contribute to the household. His stipend wasn't large, but he managed it well. He would go to their favorite bakery and buy Jack's favorite pies and desserts. And he occasionally beat Jack to paying the son of one the officers on base that came out once a week to mow the grass. He would sneak in grocery store trips on the pretense that he found a new recipe to try and needed the ingredients, and if other stuff they ate managed to fall into the cart, then so be it. And he enjoyed finding things for Jack when he went on his little shopping trips to the bookstore or the mall. He had never really had anyone to buy gifts for and he enjoyed Jack's reactions to whichever book, dvd, or video game Daniel had surprised him with immensely.

But most important of all the new things he had, he had Jack. And his growing dependence on Jack scared him to death. And it wasn't dependence as in Jack taking care of him, because truth be told, they took care of each other equally. And it wasn't based on the feeling of safety that Daniel finally found once Jack had claimed him. It was an emotional dependence. And it grew stronger every day. Grew stronger every time they touched, and every time they moaned each other's names in pleasure. Daniel knew what it was, but was petrified to admit it, afraid that it would all be taken away. He could stand losing anything but Jack. Because he loved Jack.

\---------------

  
Jack was happy as a duck. He had forgotten how nice it was to have someone to go home to, to not eat alone and watch television by himself. He had forgotten that he really enjoyed having someone to talk to, and laugh with, and even argue with.

And oddly he really liked having someone that he could touch, and someone that would touch him, he hadn't realized how starved he was for even the most casual of touches. As a Colonel, it was completely inappropriate for him to even casually touch those men and women under his command, it just wasn't acceptable. And he absolutely refused to force his attentions on any of the slave class, even the most benign of attentions. Daniel had been the one exception to that hard and fast rule. He just couldn't help himself from ruffling Daniel's hair, or throwing an arm around Daniel's shoulders as they walked through the halls. If Daniel had given him _any_ indication that the attention was unwelcome he would have stopped, it would have near killed him, but he would have stopped.

Jack came to find out though, that Daniel was equally starved for touch. And once their initial awkwardness passed, they both indulged themselves in both giving and receiving gentle, affectionate touches. Things like Jack's hand on the small of Daniel's back as he stirred something on the stove, or Daniel giving his shoulder a rub when he brought supper to the table. In and of themselves they were not meant to arouse, they were meant as little tactile reminders that there was someone else close by, but they did have the cumulative effect of reinforcing the intense sexual attraction between them.

Jack enjoyed watching Daniel emerge from the shell of his former situation. It took a little prodding on his part to get Daniel to think of himself first. He refused to take any of Daniel's stipend, even though it was his right to take all if it if he had desired to. Jack wanted to whoop with glee when Daniel's stuff finally overflowed his room and started appearing elsewhere in the house, it was a tremendous thing for Daniel. He had been so careful, so respectful of Jack's home and space, not wanting to intrude. And Jack had patiently explained again and again that it was _Daniel's_ home too.

He knew that Daniel wanted to contribute to the household upkeep, and he pretended not to notice when groceries or laundry supplies magically appeared. Daniel's pride needed the boost. And if it meant that Jack had to turn a blind eye when Daniel would pay for things, so be it. He did make it a point to rave about the special bakery runs Daniel would make, he didn't want Daniel to think he didn't notice, didn't appreciate his contributions. He just didn't make a big deal out of the monetary part of it.

The first time Daniel had bought him a gift, it took all of Jack's self control not to get choked up. He couldn't remember when the last time was that someone bought him a gift that wasn't a mandatory birthday bottle or holiday fruitcake. And here was Daniel, whose belongings fit in two cardboard boxes with next to nothing to call his own, buying him a spontaneous gift; just because he wanted to surprise Jack. And as Jack flipped the crisp pages of the new astrology guide that Daniel had bought to replace the decrepit and falling apart one that Jack cursed at often, he almost couldn't speak past the lump in his throat.

Sleeping with Daniel was very high on Jack's best things in life list. Whether after tiring each other out with carnal delights or just flopping into bed after a really long day, curling up around Daniel and letting his breathing lull him to sleep was definitely a favorite of Jack's. And in the morning, when Jack would wake before Daniel, he would allow himself the guilty pleasure of just watching Daniel as he slept. And it was often in those early morning hours as the dawn peeked into the room that Jack would almost acknowledge that he loved the man by his side.

\---------------

After the night in the kitchen, their self imposed barriers to their physical relationship were torn down. Jack took great pleasure in learning every inch of Daniel's body and what made him arch and writhe and beg for more. Actually they learned together, Daniel just as able to turn Jack into a mindless puddle on the bed. And Daniel being Daniel, without telling Jack, had bought a book, with pictures, and studied it.

They explored everything together. And the bedroom was often filled with the sounds of teasing and laughter. They were enjoying themselves. But there was one thing they hadn't done.

The approval stamp on box twelve was never mentioned. Neither were the condoms and lubrication that were purchased and in the nightstand.

Jack tried not to think about it, although there were times in bed that he ached to be inside Daniel, to feel him all around him as they moved together. But just as it had been before, he wanted Daniel to have the final say in his own deflowering and would not make the first move.

Daniel tried not to over analyze it. He knew that per the letter of the law that as a slave his body was not his own, and that at some point he would be breached. He had always expected it would a somewhat cold and clinical thing, and hopefully pain-free. But now with Jack he couldn't help but think that it would be anything but cold and clinical. And he found himself wanting to take that next step with Jack but didn't know how to tell him.

\---------------

One of the many demeaning aspects to being a slave was that all documentation pertaining to a slave was open and accessible to any military officer. There was no expectation of privacy. Whether employment records, health records, or status of the slave's virginity, it was all open for officer consumption.

Most decent officers only accessed the slave files they needed. Others took pleasure in finding things in the records to use to torment slaves.

Major Arlis knew that Daniel was a certified virgin, and that was why he never attempted anything with Daniel other than the frequent forced blowjob. He had briefly considered claiming Daniel just to be the first one to fuck him, but he realized that Jack would have over ridden his claim in a split second so he never attempted it. After Jack claimed Daniel, Arlis accessed Daniel's record and was livid to see that Jack had approval to deflower Daniel. But he was surprised to see that as the weeks went by that Jack still hadn't registered the date of Daniel's deflowering. And the thought that Daniel was still a virgin festered in his brain like a canker.

\---------------

It was the first time they had been separated since Jack claimed Daniel. Jack was going off-world with Teal'c for a four day mission to train new SGC personnel. Daniel was staying behind to hopefully catch up on some of the backlog of translations that needed to be done.

Unbeknown to Daniel, Jack had asked Kawalsky and Ferritti to keep an eye out for Daniel. He didn't expect any trouble, but it was the first time he would be unaccessible to Daniel and he was a little concerned.

He had issues the first day Jack was gone. Happily ensconced in his office with a stack of photos of a monolith one of the teams had discovered, he worked tirelessly to decipher the writings on it. Kawalsky dragged him out mid afternoon to get some food in the commissary. Daniel felt a little out of place sitting with the jovial bunch that were Kawalsky's friends. But he knew that Jack trusted all of them implicitly and he just went with flow. He made the mistake of looking around the commissary and saw Arlis staring at him from across the room. There was something in the man's eyes that almost made Daniel shiver.

Daniel quickly averted his eyes but Kawalsky, sitting opposite Daniel, had seen Daniel's face go pale and he followed the direction that Daniel had been looking to see Arlis sitting there with a smug look on his face.

Daniel looked towards Kawalsky in time to see that he knew about Arlis. Nothing was said, but Daniel suddenly felt a little better now that someone else had seen it.

Daniel headed back to his office without a backward glance.

Kawalsky on the other hand walked over to Arlis and put his palms flat on the table and leaned in close to Arlis and hissed, "You know Colonel O'Neill really will rip your balls off personally, right?"

Without batting an eye Arlis replied, "You like watching the Colonel play with men's balls, Kawalsky? Does he let you watch while he plays with Daniel?"

Kawalsky had a fist full of Arlis' shirt a second later with his face in Arlis', "Daniel is off limits to you, Arlis. Get that through your thick skull now, before someone volunteers to beat it into you."

And as quickly as their altercation started, it ended. Neither man wanting to risk time in a holding cell. Kawalsky especially since it would leave only Ferritti to watch Daniel without any backup.

Daniel worked through the night, completely unaware that Kawalsky, Ferritti and a few of their friends took turns prowling the corridor outside Daniel's office. Daniel finally went and crashed, with specific permission from Jack, in Jack's on base officer's quarters. He locked the door behind him, and flopped on the bed, hugging Jack's pillow. It took him a long time to fall asleep. He wasn't entirely comfortable in Jack's quarters without him. And he also realized that he had definitely gotten used to sleeping with Jack, the bed seemed very empty without him there.

The next day went without incident and Daniel was able to really make a dent in his backlog of work. And when he collapsed again in Jack's quarters he felt a sense of accomplishment and slept a deep, peaceful sleep.

The third day did not go without incident. Ferritti and Kawalsky had to attend a briefing and unfortunately had to leave Daniel unattended for the duration of the meeting. Both had hoped that since the previous two days had gone fairly smoothly that there wouldn't be any trouble. Arlis had counted on that.

Arlis strode into Daniel's office like it was his, closing the door behind him, leaving another Marine to stand guard outside the the door.

Daniel's danger sense went into overdrive, he knew he was in trouble, but tried to play the diplomat. "Can I help you with something, Major Arlis?" He was frantically trying to remember if there was anything within reach that he could use as a weapon if he needed too. The Major's eyes were cold and mean, and Daniel would swear that he could see a touch of insanity in them.

It only took Arlis a split second to have Daniel pinned face first to the wall with his arm twisted up painfully behind him, and hiss his ear, "Sorry, your boyfriend isn't here to help you this time."

"I don't want any trouble, Major." Daniel didn't struggle and waste his energy. Arlis was a Marine, and Special Forces trained and Daniel knew he wasn't a match for him. He just prayed that Arlis didn't kill him.

Arlis pressed into him more and Daniel could feel the other man's erection pressing into the cleft of his ass. "Oh, this is no trouble. I'm just being friendly." He ground himself against Daniel, enjoying the friction.

Daniel didn't reply, there was just no right answer. Arlis' breath was hot and ragged near his ear, the man was dangerously aroused. He licked Daniel's neck sloppily and grunted as he rubbed harder still. Daniel felt that if the walls hadn't been concrete that he would have been pushed into the next office by the force of Arlis thrusting against him.

Suddenly Arlis paused and Daniel panicked as he felt Arlis' free hand slipping between Daniel and the wall to yank at the button and rip open the zipper of Daniel's BDU's. He started struggling, sure that Arlis intended to rape him. The arm Arlis held hostage was pulled even higher behind Daniel, and his shoulder threatened to dislocate. It forced Daniel to stop struggling. He felt cool air hit his ass as Arlis pushed his pants and boxers down. The sound of Arlis' zipper going down sent Daniel into a fresh panic but he just couldn't maneuver away from him.

The moment that Arlis nestled his rock hard cock between Daniel's ass cheeks he threw his whole weight against Daniel. He undulated his hips a little and let out several little grunts of pleasure before growling in Daniel's ear, "I almost claimed you myself, just to be the first one to fuck that ass of yours but O'Neill had to go and claim you. And now that he's had you for weeks he still hasn't popped your cherry. What's the matter, he can't get it up for you? Notice I don't have that problem."

He gave up talking and went back to humping Daniel's ass crack, his breathing more and more erratic. Daniel had relaxed an iota when he realized that Arlis didn't intend to rape him. Or at the very least, he didn't intend to penetrate him. He just hoped that after Arlis came that he would just leave.

Arlis was panting like he was running a marathon, and Daniel almost prayed that he had a heart attack and keeled over. His mouth was back on Daniel's neck, moving up to his ear where he made thorough work of tormenting it with his tongue. After he did, his words seemed inordinately loud in Daniel's ear, "I _am_ going to fuck that ass of yours some day." Apparently that thought was enough to send Arlis over the edge and Daniel could feel the hot spurts soaking his rubbed raw skin.

He stayed pressed to Daniel until his breathing slowed. And the next thing Daniel knew his head was slammed into the concrete and held there, "Don't even think of telling anyone about this. Because the next time I _will_ fuck you before I kill you."

He slapped Daniel hard on the ass as he walked towards the door, fixing his clothes as he went, making a point to step on Daniel's glasses that had landed on the floor in the scuffle.

After Arlis left, Daniel rested his head on the wall and fought back the tears he didn't seem to be able to keep from coming. He reached down and pulled his pants up, wincing as the material of his boxers rubbed on his raw skin. Any sort of frottage without lubrication was just asking for chafing, Daniel hoped Arlis ended up raw as well, it would serve him right. He gingerly reached up and felt the egg forming on his head where he had been slammed into the concrete. Looking around for his glasses he saw them smashed on the floor. He sighed and bent to pick them up, as he stood back up his legs gave out and the world went black.

\---------------

Daniel woke to the dimmed lighting of the infirmary at night. He blinked a few times trying to focus and felt sharp stabbing pains in his head where Arlis had slammed him into the concrete. He heard a gentle snoring coming from next to his bed and he gingerly turned to see Jack sprawled in a chair near his bedside, sound asleep with his head drooping forward and his chin on his chest.

He tried licking his lips to try and speak but only a croaky sort of a whisper would come out, it was enough to rouse Jack though, and that was what he wanted.

Jack quickly scrubbed his face with his hands and leaned closer to Daniel, "Hey. Back with us?"

Daniel managed to say, "Yeah. I think so."

Jack reached over and cupped Daniel's cheek, and Daniel couldn't help himself and leaned into the comforting touch. And when Jack asked, "You okay?" Daniel knew he wasn't asking about the head injury, he had to know what Arlis had done to him.

Daniel averted his eyes in shame, and nodded in spite of the pain in his head.

Jack's thumb gently caressed Daniel's cheek, "Not your fault. And Arlis has been taken care of, he's gone and won't be coming back to the SGC."

Daniel looked at Jack in horror, thinking that he meant Arlis had been sentenced to castration. At Daniel's look Jack clarified, "Not that, although I think he almost deserves it. He's been busted back down a rank and reassigned to work in the motor pool. He also got tagged in the system so he's going to have a hard time if he ever wants to claim someone and he's certainly never getting box twelve authorization for anyone."

Daniel could see the worry on Jack's face, even without his glasses and didn't know what to say, he struggled to sit up, regardless of the thudding in his head. Jack perched himself on the bed and just pulled Daniel into a tight hug, knowing that Daniel would never ask for the reassurance that his whole being was screaming out for.

They sat there like that for a very, very long time and Jack felt the wetness on his shirt from Daniel's silent tears a moment before Daniel whispered hoarsely, "Why me? Why is he so fixated on me?"

Jack just rubbed Daniel's back gently, "I don't know, Daniel. It's not you, though, it's like there's something hardwired wrong in Arlis. But I promise you, he's never going to come near you again."

There was something more than a little ominous in Jack's words and Daniel shivered and pressed even closer to Jack. It was the first time on base that they had displayed this type of emotion and physical intimacy openly, normally Daniel was the one that was concerned with who might see and what it would do to Jack's career and would shy away from it. But not tonight, he just couldn't force himself to shy away from it tonight, and he didn't care who saw them. He just wanted the security he felt as Jack held him, but the longer he was awake the clearer the memories of his encounter with Arlis got and his emotions just kept rollercoastering. As Daniel sat there with Jack's arms and familiar scent surrounding him, Daniel felt safe enough to admit out loud, "I thought he was going to rape me."

Jack's hand on his back paused and he heard Jack swallow strongly before saying in a low voice for Daniel's ears alone, "He wouldn't be breathing if he had. No one hurts someone I love and gets away with it."

Daniel's sucked in his breath, neither of them had used that word before to describe their feelings for each other. He pulled back, desperately wanting to see Jack's eyes. His mouth opened but nothing would come out, all of the languages that he spoke failed him, he just didn't know how to acknowledge it, or how to accept that Jack loved _him_.

Jack saw that Daniel was struggling and his eyes softened, "I do you know. Love you. This isn't exactly how I wanted to tell you. But I really want you to know that, and believe it. Okay?"

Daniel didn't say anything, he simply plastered himself to Jack and squeezed him for all he was worth and when he finally found the words he spoke quietly into Jack's shoulder, "Me too, Jack, me too."

\---------------

The next morning Jack sprang Daniel from the infirmary as soon as Doctor Fraiser would let him go. They headed home and Daniel plunked down gingerly on the couch, his buttocks still a little chaffed even with the salve that Dr. Fraiser had given him to use.

Once Daniel was settled on the couch Jack was hovering about the living room. Daniel was just about to ask him what he was so excited about when Jack clapped his hands together and rubbed them together and announced, "I have a surprise for you."

Daniel looked at Jack over his glasses, "A surprise?"

"Yeah. We have a week of down time and I think its time I showed you my cabin in Minnesota."

The look of childish delight on Jack's face told Daniel that this was important to Jack, and special. They packed quickly and while Jack was out of the room putting a thermos of coffee together for the road Daniel raided the nightstand drawer and tucked the condoms and lubricant in his duffle bag.  
They took turns driving, and Jack enjoyed himself as he pointed out interesting things along the way, Daniel had never before been this far north.

The sixteen hour drive was tiring and although Daniel wanted to explore the cabin and its surroundings as soon as they got there, it was late and they simply went to bed almost immediately.

The next two days were spent just relaxing, the weather was beautiful and they whittled away hours sitting on the little pier near the pond. Daniel wasn't particularly a fan of fishing, but enjoyed sitting out there with Jack and a book. The third day they drove into the little town and Jack introduced him to several of the locals that he had known for years.

There were several retired officers in the area, and as they made their way around the town, Daniel was surprised to see that there were many slaves as well, most with pledged concubine cuffs on their wrists. Daniel wondered about that a little, there were many pledged male slaves but he had yet to meet any female officers, where those male slaves pledged to male officers?

He knew legally it was possible, the laws regarding claiming and pledging were gender neutral, but seeing it in practice was something else. The only law that was gender specific was in the number of pledged concubines an officer was allowed to have, which was two, one of each sex. The law was designed that way to allow officers that wanted to pledge the breeder of their children the opportunity to be able to do so and it also allowed for them to pledge a same-sex concubine. It was a not so subtle acknowledgment of the homosexual relationships the military knew to be occurring.

Pledged concubines were as close to free as a slave would ever get, most other cultures would call them husbands and wives or spouses. They were beholden to none save their pledged officer. Becoming a pledged concubine was actually the one thing about their lives that slaves had control over, they could reject a pledge offer if they wished. Pledges were binding for life and it was not something typically undertaken lightly by either the officer or the slave.

As they drove back to the cabin Daniel allowed himself the daydream of what it would be like to be pledged to Jack. He knew they loved each other, they had finally shared that with one another in the infirmary, and he knew without hesitation that he would say yes if Jack asked to pledge him. His mind wandered further and he thought about a future where they were pledged with a breeder as part of their lives to give Jack a child that they could raise and cherish. Daniel had long ago given up hope of having his own children, he had just never caught the eye of a female officer looking to breed with him, but he could envision raising children with Jack and being a family. And the thought made him smile as he looked out the window.

Jack saw that gentle smile on Daniel's face and wondered what he was thinking about. The sun and fresh air had done Daniel a world of good, and as Jack admired the sun kissed look of Daniel's face he was hit with a powerful bolt of pure lust. He had lustful thoughts about Daniel often, but this was different, he wanted him, wanted to cover him and be inside him, and wanted to feel Daniel arching and sweating beneath him, enjoying it just as much. It was a good thing they had just pulled into the driveway of the cabin because Jack really needed to adjust himself in his seat, his jeans just not having enough room for his near painful erection.

As he put the truck in park, Daniel hopped out and headed for the cabin. It took him a second to realize that Jack hadn't gotten out of the truck. He turned back around to see Jack sitting with his head on the steering wheel. He walked around to the driver's side door and asked through the open window, "Jack? Everything okay?"

Jack swallowed hard and said without looking up, "Yeah, everything's fine. I just need a minute."

Daniel reached in and ran a hand over Jack's back, "You sure?"

Jack forced himself to calm down and answered as he looked up, "Yeah."

He opened the truck door and got out trying to stick his hands in his pockets to hide the bulge that just wouldn't go away.

They went inside and Daniel could see Jack trying to subtly adjust himself and he teased as he stared at Jack's groin, "Something I said?"

Jack just dropped his head in defeat, and it gave Daniel the opportunity to close the distance between them and tuck a finger under Jack's chin and lift it, "What were you thinking about in the truck that got you so turned on?"

Jack wanted to lie, or not answer at all, but that wasn't the type of relationship they had. He never wanted to pressure Daniel into anything that he didn't want to do, but he ached with the wanting of it. And it wasn't a dominance thing for Jack, although a lot of officers used penetration to assert their position of power over their claimed slaves. Jack just wanted to connect with Daniel, wanted to be closer to him than anyone had ever been. He wanted to feel Daniel all around him. And because he knew his motives were born out of love and desire he didn't feel guilty as he answered Daniel honestly, "I was thinking about you. Being inside of you."

The hoarseness of Jack's voice coupled with the honest words shot arousal all through Daniel and his own voice wavered a bit as he replied, "I've been thinking about that a lot. And I want it too."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

They moved almost simultaneously and meeting of their mouths was fierce and hungry. They managed to strip and stumble their way to the bedroom that was illuminated by the late afternoon sun. Jack almost had to will himself not to come as he took in the sight of Daniel standing there bathed in the yellow glow of the sun, deliciously nude, his erection strong and high. He was perfect, like something carved out of marble.

He watched as Daniel dug the supplies out of his duffle bag and it was Jack's turn to tease, "I guess you have been thinking about it."

Daniel put the tube and the condoms within easy reach on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed.

Jack stepped over to stand in front of Daniel and gently took his face in his hands and bent to kiss Daniel ever so gently. He pulled back a little and said very softly, "I love you."

Daniel's eyes crinkled as a warm smile lit up his face, "I know. And I love you too."

Those would be the last words said in the room for a long time. Daniel tugged Jack down onto the bed and they fell into the familiar touching, tasting and teasing of each other. Daniel knew that Jack had the container of lube with in reach, and as they were lying on their sides, kissing with their aching cocks nestled together a little shiver of anticipation coursed through Daniel as he heard sound of the tube being opened and he closed his eyes so he could just concentrate on the sensations. Moments later he felt the cool slick against him and a moment after that a single gentle finger enter him carefully. Ever so slowly he felt that finger start moving in and out of him and he found himself rocking himself along to the slow rhythm grinding his cock alongside Jack's.

Jack's eyes were wide open, watching Daniel's face for any sign of distress, any inkling that he wasn't enjoying Jack's ministrations. He almost chuckled at Daniel's little pout of disappointment when Jack removed his finger to add more lube. The pout went away instantly as Jack replaced the finger, and added a second. When a third was added, Daniel actually started mewing and pressing back hard against Jack's hand.

Daniel felt Jack's hand pull away and he wanted to cry, it had felt so good. He expected Jack to replace it right way like he had done previously but he didn't. Daniel opened his eyes and saw Jack rolling on a condom. He swallowed hard as he watched Jack kneel up and he saw Jack's shaking hands applying a generous amount of lube to his latex covered erection. An erection that suddenly seemed way too big for what they were going to do. He tried not to dwell on that, tensing up would be bad according to the book he had studied, instead he rolled over on his stomach and tucked a pillow under his hips and tried to find a comfortable position for his own rock hard erection.

Jack had to close his eyes for a moment to keep himself from coming too soon, the sight of Daniel lying there with his ass poised and ready for him almost enough to send him over the edge. He positioned himself behind Daniel and reached out a hand to softly stroke Daniel's back to reassure him. He used the other hand to guide himself to that carefully prepared entrance.

Daniel relaxed his death grip on the pillow under his head when he felt Jack's hand on his back. And as he felt Jack start to enter him he exhaled deeply and tried not to tense up. He felt the persistent pressure of Jack slowly pressing forward, but Daniel's body seemed unwilling to yield to him. Just when the pressure almost got to be too much to bear he felt Jack's hand on his back again, lightly running his fingers down Daniel's spine and the sensation sent a shiver through his body. And as that shiver distracted him for a moment Jack pressed forward again, and this time Daniel's body yielded suddenly and Jack sank into him.

Neither of them moved for what seemed like an eternity, the only sound in the room was their ragged breathing. Jack's brain abandoned him entirely, his senses had taken over the moment his cock had finally slid inside of Daniel. It was so tight, and so hot. And he tried to force himself to think about anything but that or else he _would_ be coming before he even got to move.

Daniel was trying to remember to breathe, the initial feeling of Jack actually entering him and the accompanying sting had been a little shock. The sting had lessened as they lay there not moving, and all he felt was a fullness and a stretching. His own ardor had cooled a bit but he was hypersensitive at the moment and he knew it wouldn't take much for it to return in force.

Jack felt Daniel relaxing around him and he slowly pulled out an inch or so and gently pushed back in, when there was no sign of distress from Daniel he did it again and this time felt Daniel moving with him. They established a slow and steady rhythm that was bringing both men to the brink. Daniel had slipped his hand underneath himself to fist his cock tightly. But it wasn't enough, Daniel's body was telling him it wanted more, and he instinctively pressed back even harder against Jack's thrust. His action changed the angle a little though and Jack's cock dragged across his prostate, and all Daniel could manage through the intense sensation was a simply primitive sort of grunt. And when Jack drew almost all the way out and back in in one sure stroke that hit it again in both directions Daniel's release hit him like a freight train.

When Daniel's orgasm hit, his body was trying to fuck the fist holding his cock and buck backwards onto the hardness deep inside of him at the same time. It was all Jack could do to hold on and stay inside Daniel, all thoughts of finesse or technique went out the window as Daniel's ass contracted around his cock and with a loud grunt he pressed himself in as far as he could go and let the waves of his own release take him.

It almost took more energy than he had to carefully pull out of Daniel and roll to the side before becoming boneless. It took a couple of minutes before their heart rates and breathing settled back to normal. Jack rolled up onto his elbow and reached a hand out to stroke Daniel's cheek and was upset to find tears streaming down.

"Daniel? What's wrong? Did I hurt you? Oh god, I hurt you didn't I?"

Daniel put a finger to Jack's lips to shush him and followed it with his own lips. And as he pulled back from the tender kiss he whispered honestly, "You didn't hurt me. I just... I just never expected it to be like that. I didn't expect to feel like that. It was a little overwhelming, that's all."

"What do you mean you didn't expect to feel like that?"

"I just never expected this to happen with someone that cared about me, and I really didn't expect it to be about my pleasure as much as whoever was breaching me's pleasure. I guess I thought it would be sort of cold and clinical, and this was anything but."

Jack's eyes grew soft, "That's because I didn't just breach you, Danny, I made love to you, with you. Big difference."

\---------------

Later that night Jack slipped out of bed and after pouring himself a good belt of Irish whiskey he went and sat on the porch steps. His own emotions from taking Daniel for the first time were all over the place. It had been an amazing experience. He wondered if he should tell Daniel that it had been the first time that the had ever deflowered anyone. He had been nervous about injuring Daniel and had really wanted to make the experience good for Daniel. Apparently he succeeded by Daniel's post coital tears and admission.

He had seen the same pledged concubines in town as Daniel. And seeing them had also started Jack's mind down a future road. But was it a step they wanted to take? Would Daniel really want to pledge himself to Jack for the rest of their lives? He let his mind wander a moment, envisioning them pledged, and Daniel finally being nearly free.

He wondered if Daniel might want children, it was something he had thought about now and then since Charlie's death, but he had never acted on although an occasional breeder would catch his eye. But he could see it clearly in a future time with Daniel, they could find a breeder that they both were compatible with and both men could father a child. As Jack's pledged concubine any child Daniel sired would bear Jack's name and be recognized as an officer's child and afforded all the rights and protections thereof.

He smiled as he pictured many little feet running up and down the halls of their home. He heard the cabin door creak open and he felt Daniel sit on the step behind him and wrap himself around Jack. "What are you thinking about out here all by yourself?"

"About us, about the future."

"Oh," was Daniel's quiet reply.

Jack reached up and rubbed the forearm that Daniel had wrapped around his chest, "Good thoughts, Daniel. Only good thoughts."

Daniel rubbed his cheek against Jack's hair and asked, "Care to share?"

Jack sipped his whiskey and said, "That whole pledging thing, and us."

Daniel stilled behind him and Jack twisted around to see Daniel's face, the moonlight enough for Jack to see the look of longing on Daniel's face.

"Is that something you want, Daniel? You've got to tell me."

"I was thinking about that on the drive home from town, actually."

"Is that what you were smiling about?"

"Yeah. And, ah, about us maybe raising children together. I was picturing us being a family."

Jack smiled and chuckled lightly, "Great minds think alike. That's what I was thinking too."

The men were quiet for a while, enjoying the closeness and companionship. Finally Daniel leaned in near Jack's ear and teased, "You do have to ask me you know."

Jack's deep laugh filled the night, and he stood up and turned to face Daniel taking his hands, "Will you pledge yourself to me, Daniel Jackson?"

\---------------

The next morning they drove two towns over to the closest Slave Oversight Officer. The proper paper work was filled out and signed by both of them and Daniel's voice was strong and unwavering as he recited the oath that sealed him to Jack for the rest of his life.

The Slave Oversight Officer promptly filed the pledge in the computer along with the date of Daniel's deflowering. And with those two things completed, unless he wanted to file a charge of abuse, Daniel would never have to deal with an Oversight Officer again, he was as free as a slave could be, and the thought of that made him a little high.

Their next stop was a military run jeweler's shop where they ordered the gold cuff that would replace Daniel's dog tags. While it was being sized and engraved with their information they went and poked around town, browsing in the little shops and having an early lunch. It was ready when they went back and Jack held Daniel's free hand as the cuff was wrapped around Daniel's wrist and soldered in place permanently.

When it was done the two men embraced fiercely, not caring who was watching. The jeweler was a retired officer with two concubines of his own, and the embrace didn't phase him in the least.

\---------------

The news of Daniel's deflowering and pledging did phase one person, however. And as Arlis read the words on the computer screen that effectively took Daniel away from him forever his fists knotted in rage and his mind started plotting.

\---------------  
tbc...  



	2. Chapter 2

When they returned home their lives fell back into the familiar pattern it had been before they were pledged. There had been heartfelt congratulations from those closest to them. Only Kawalsky hung back, his guilt over what happened to Daniel eating him up inside. Daniel and Jack both suspected what his withdrawal was caused from but didn't really know how to fix it.

Daniel finally found himself alone with Kawalsky one morning in the locker room and bit the bullet to say plainly, "It wasn't your fault you know."

He heard Kawalsky slam his locker shut behind him and step closer to Daniel, "Like hell it wasn't. I promised Jack I would look out for you, and look what the hell happened."

Daniel turned to face him and said gently, "It could have just as easily happened if Jack had been on base. Arlis was stalking me, waiting for an opportunity. The only person to blame is Arlis."

"When I got out of my briefing and saw you lying there, I thought... "

"Well, he didn't."

"I would have killed him with my bare hands if he had, Daniel. You're family, and nobody hurts family and gets away with it."

"Thanks, Charlie. That means a lot."

Kawalsky stuck his hands in his pockets and for some reason was studying his boots. Without looking up he said, "So, pledged concubine huh?"

Daniel didn't know why Kawalsky was having what seemed to be a hard time about the fact that he and Jack were now pledged. He had known Charlie as long as he had known Jack. The two men were similar in personality and had similar senses of humor. Outside of SG-1 there was no one on base that Daniel trusted more and Daniel valued his friendship highly. He had been supportive when Jack had claimed Daniel and Daniel didn't understand his reticence now. He answered lightly, "Yeah. Sorta came as a big surprise."

Charlie looked up and said, "Big surprise, for everybody." Just for a moment Daniel saw something flash across Kawalsky's face, a look of loss, of longing. And it was directed at Daniel. And suddenly everything clicked in Daniel's mind, he never suspected that anyone else might be harboring an attraction or feelings for him, he just didn't consider himself all that desirable.

As he held Charlie's eyes, Daniel could tell that Charlie knew that he caught it, that he understood, and he said softly, "I'm sorry, Charlie. I didn't know."

Kawalsky swallowed hard, then forced himself to be lighthearted, "Yeah, well. I knew eventually Jack would get his head out of his ass. If it had been anyone but him I wouldn't have hesitated you know."

Daniel nodded, "I know."

Kawalsky smiled and clapped Daniel on the shoulder, "He better treat you right, cause I'm still one of the few people on base that can kick his ass."

Daniel allowed a little chuckle at that thought to escape but wanted to reassure Charlie, "I don't think that's really going to be a problem, but I will keep that thought in mind."

He only hesitated for a moment before pulling Daniel into a bear hug and whispered, "Be happy, Daniel, you deserve it." And as abruptly as he had initiated the hug he broke it and without giving Daniel the opportunity to respond, he left the locker room.

\---------------

Weeks melted into months quickly as the pace of SGC got more and more hectic in its battle with the Goa'uld. Jack and Daniel were both so busy most of the time they didn't know which end was up. But they were happy. Things with Kawalsky had gotten back to their normal wise cracking ways and Daniel was glad, he had been half afraid that the situation was going to be uncomfortable.

Not everyone on base was happy. Down in the motor pool Arlis existed solely to make slaves' lives hell. He never overtly abused anyone, the Slave Oversight Officers were keeping too close an eye on him for that. But he could be as rude and crude as he wanted to be, and he was. And as often as he could without arousing suspicion he would travel to a house hidden deep in Denver that catered to men like him.

The owner of the house was a slimy piece of work that didn't deserve the title of officer, much less the rank of Colonel. He found and kept runaway and off the grid slaves. Imprisoned in locked rooms in the house, these slaves were prostituted out to be used and abused at will without oversight and without hope of escape.

Occasionally certified virgin slaves found their way into the house and an auction would be run, selling that virginity to the highest bidder. Arlis had bought one young female slave's virginity. Barely nineteen and terrified, he had taken great pleasure in backhanding her when she tried to resist. He tore off the flimsy negligee that she had been presented to him in, and brutally forced himself into her body. As he pumped in and out of her he screamed at her to keep her eyes open, she had Daniel's eyes, and that was what he had paid for, he wanted to see those eyes as he came.

And as the weeks and months went by he sated his lust and rage on any number of slaves, male and female, that had those eyes. He was obsessed, and bordering on madness.

\---------------

Almost a year and a half after Jack and Daniel had pledged, Jack and Hammond were called to Washington. Jack took Daniel with them, knowing Daniel was dying to visit the Smithsonian and some other other museums.

So while Jack and Hammond were stuck in meetings, Daniel took in the sights, enjoying himself beyond expectation. It was on the third night as he and Jack lay plastered together, panting and sweaty and trying to calm their rapid heart rates from the incredible quickie Jack initiated before dinner, that Jack shared the news.

"Hammond's getting promoted." Jack's hand was stroking Daniel's thigh.

"Another star?"

"Yeah. And he's not the only one getting them."

Daniel quickly tried to flip flop around to face Jack, "You're getting promoted to General?"

"Yeah. He's going to be coming to Washington, I'm taking over his command."

Daniel was speechless. He knew that the promotion was something that Jack had wanted for a very long time. It was also a means for them to move forward with their plans to have a family, they had decided to wait until their schedules left them on Earth more often than off world. But it also signaled an end to Jack going through the gate. A lot of changes were going to be coming in a short period of time. They had talked about this scenario before, and made some decisions about what they both wanted, and what they were going to do when the time came.

And although Daniel knew that Jack welcomed the promotion and was more than capable of handling the responsibility, that occasionally Jack need a little encouragement, a little nod that he was doing the right thing, although he would never ask for it in words.

It explained the frantic way that he had had gotten them both naked almost immediately upon entering their hotel room, and the needy way that he had taken Daniel. Jack never just took from Daniel, he was a gentle and considerate lover, but today's news made him feel out of control, and floundering. He had needed something real to ground him again, and needed to just be concerned about himself, just for a little while. And though he was careful not to hurt Daniel, because he would _never_ hurt Daniel, their coupling had been about Jack's pleasure, about Jack's need to feel like he was in control. The hard and fast pace was unusual in their bed, and Daniel found himself just giving in to it and when Jack's orgasm hit and he pressed Daniel flat into the bed so Jack could dig his toes in for more traction, Daniel's own powerful release hit him as his erection was ground between his stomach and the bed.

And now that Jack had told him what brought it all on, he reached over and cupped Jack's cheek, "There's no one better for the job, Jack. And you know I'll be right beside you."

Jack reached out and pulled Daniel close, tucking Daniel's head in the crook of his neck and didn't say a word, just lay there and absorbed the love and support that Daniel offered.

\---------------

The transition went smoothly, mainly because Jack _liked_ the way Hammond had run things and wasn't quick to make changes. Daniel found himself on SG-1 with Teal'c and newly promoted Lieutenant Colonels Kawalsky and Carter. It wasn't quite the same team dynamic as with Jack, but they worked well together.

Daniel also found himself in the unique position of being the pledged concubine of a General. He hadn't really thought about how that would change his life. But it did, and it wasn't just the new gold star that had been soldered to his pledge cuff. Slaves and officers alike deferred to him. Invitations to social events arrived at the house addressed to them both, and the pledged concubines of other high ranking officers started inviting him to things solo. He had never been in the limelight quite so much socially and it intimidated him a bit.

He also found that he himself had some new responsibilities. As the pledged concubine of the highest ranking officer it was up to him to go with Jack and notify the families of those men they lost in combat, and in the days following, help the families cope. It was also his responsibility to be aware of retirements and births and such, and to procure appropriate gifts and cards of congratulations. They were also expected to entertain at their home, something that neither of them really minded doing, except for the fact that although Daniel was a better cook than Jack, neither were really up for preparing formal dinners. Daniel solved that by finding out that one of the slaves that worked in the kitchen had attended chef school and they arranged to have him come and cook for them on the nights that they entertained. The responsibilities were fairly domestic in nature, but it just wasn't something that he had ever been exposed to, and he found himself muddling his way through and not letting on to Jack that he was struggling. Jack had enough on his plate without adding Daniel's domestic shortcomings.

\---------------

Arlis had of course heard the news, the entire base had heard the news. It fanned his obsession just a little more, knowing just how far out of his reach Daniel now was. And the first time he had been manning the little booth where motor pool cars were signed out and he saw the General and Daniel pull in and park in the "Reserved for Brig. General J. O'Neill" spot, his vision went red and the blood pounded in his ears. In his mind's eye he could see himself bending Daniel over that car and fucking him as they faced that damned sign.

That weekend he went to Denver and spent two days breaking in a newly acquired virgin slave. About thirty, the slave had a similar look to Daniel, and of course the blue eyes. But these eyes weren't quite right, not quite the same as Daniel's and it irked Arlis. The slave's eyes also held some defiance and anger, Arlis was to be his first breaching and his first "customer" and the slave was not happy with being told to submit to Arlis.

The backhand was a personal favorite of Arlis' and he knew just how much force to put behind it. When the first blow hit the slave it knocked him to the floor where Arlis quickly grabbed him by the hair with one hand as he unzipped his pants with the other. Then leaning down into the slave's face he said in a low, deadly voice, "In this house I can kill you and no one will care. Now you are going to suck my cock and get it nice and hard or I will slit your throat and find a slave that will. Do you understand?"

The slave could see the insanity in the eyes glaring at him and capitulated with a jerky nod. Seeing the nod Arlis' mouth curled into an evil grin and he said, "Good. One other thing, while I'm here you answer to Daniel. Do you understand me, Daniel?"

At the slave's second jerky nod Arlis let go of his hair and stood up with his hands on his hips, "Good. Now, Daniel, suck my cock."

And haltingly the slave did just that, until Arlis pulled himself away and ordered him to strip. Fear and panic started building even further in the slave as Arlis himself stripped and stood there with his erection protruding. The rooms and beds in the house had all been specially made with strong hooks and loops for shackles and cuffs and Arlis attached a set to the middle of the headboard and ordered the slave as he pointed to the bed, "Get on your back, Daniel."

Terrified, the slave couldn't move and it was another backhand that finally got him to move. Arlis efficiently had his arms in the shackles in no time and after shoving a wedge shaped pillow under the slave's ass to give him access, he then pulled out another pair of long restraints. These hooked into two separate eyebolts in the ceiling and were attached around the slaves knees. After Arlis had them adjusted the slave couldn't kick, and couldn't close his legs. Arlis liked this particular setup, it allowed him to see their eyes and it allowed him full use of his hands while he was fucking.

He stood there a moment by the side of the bed, enjoying the view and he leaned down close to the slave's ear, "Now, Daniel, I'm going to fuck you. And it's going to hurt. Now you have a choice, you can beg me right now to use lube, or I'll fuck you dry. It's up to you. Beg pretty if you want the lube, Daniel."

And beg the slave did, he knew this was going to hurt, and hurt badly regardless, he just couldn't imagine what kind of damage would be done if the madman didn't use lube.

Arlis brought a couple of items over to the bed with him and settled himself on his knees between the slave's hanging legs. He stretched out, half lying on the slave with his leaking hard cock nestled on top of the slave's flaccid one, to pinch a nipple causing the slave to cry out in pain. Arlis chuckled, "Here are the rules, Daniel, pay attention. You are to keep your eyes open. I want to see your eyes at all times. And I want to hear you as I take that cherry ass of yours. You can scream if you want to, no one will care."

The tears started leaking from the slave's eyes, the man was truly insane. But he knew that he was speaking the truth about no one caring, the slave had heard others screaming and crying in the house. The click as the flip top of the lube opened startled him, and he realized that Arlis had leaned back on his heels and was slicking up his cock. He watched Arlis' every move in terror, watched as he closed the tube, watched as he wiped his hand on the sheet, and watched oddly enough as Arlis picked up the other item he had dropped on the bed, a remote control. Arlis pressed play and a grainy security video started playing on the television in the corner. The slave looked quickly to see that it was Arlis getting a blowjob from some guy that looked a lot like himself. Arlis had managed to get a copy of the footage of every single minute he had spent with the real Daniel and spliced them altogether in a tape that would keep looping. His own personal porn. Little did the slave know that everything in the room they were in was also being taped for Arlis' amusement.

Arlis watched that first bit on the tape, and the slave watched in horror as Arlis' erection seemed to grow even larger as he watched the tape. When Arlis had watched himself come all over the real Daniel's face on the tape he was ready. His balls were tingling with the anticipation of a good fucking.

He knelt up and positioned himself and as the slave's tense body fought to keep him out he pressed forward even harder and the second he felt himself sliding in, he growled out, "Oh, Daniel, I'm gonna fuck you so hard." And he did. He was no sooner all the way in when he pulled all the way out and did it again. The slave was crying and begging him to go slower because it hurt so badly but he didn't care. When he bottomed out the second time he realized that the slave had his eyes closed, against the rules. His hands found the slave's nipples and pinched hard, eliciting a yelp of pain, "Open your fucking eyes, Daniel. What did I tell you?"

Reluctantly the slave did and Arlis started to really pound into his ass, enjoying the heat and the squeeze. The slave was crying and whimpering but remembering to keep his eyes open. Arlis' eyes went to the television for a moment to see the image of him humping Daniel's bare ass. Without moving his eyes, or pausing his thrusting, he reached down and squeezed the slave's balls roughly causing him to cry out loudly in surprise and pain. And with that sound filling the room and the sight of himself coming all over Daniel's ass in the video, Arlis could feel his balls retracting and he came with a roar, and he pushed in as hard and as far as he could as he tried to find traction to get in even farther.

He collapsed on top of the slave to catch his breath, the slave could feel his cock shrinking inside him and the hot come oozing out of his sore ass. When Arlis finally got off of him he tormented the slave, "Just think, Daniel, we've got two whole days together. That just took the edge off."

The slave was numb, he just couldn't imagine another minute with this sadist, let alone another two days.

By the end of the weekend the slave had been well and thoroughly broken in to Arlis' standards. He made a decision and bought the slave outright from the Colonel. He brought him home and locked him in a special little soundproof room in the basement that he had built with the hopes of having Daniel visit. No one would ever know he was there and Arlis could fuck him at his leisure, and maybe someday make him watch as he fucked the real Daniel.

\---------------

Daniel eventually got into a groove with his social responsibilities, well sort of a groove anyway. It came after what was his and Jack's first real relationship hiccup.

A mission to a dank, rainy planet had spawned a deep, hacking chest cold in Daniel and landed him in bed for three days. He was sick, and cranky. And as he shuffled out to the refrigerator to get some juice he saw the calendar taped to the front of it that contained all of their social engagements, and he groaned seeing a birthday dinner party for some Colonel's pledged concubine listed that they were supposed to attend that evening. He hadn't picked out a gift or a card, and had forgotten to order the tray of Italian pastries that they were going to bring.

He groaned and leaned back against the counter, just staring at the damnable calendar with distaste. He finally slid down the cabinet and sat back against it, still staring at the calendar. It wasn't the first time he had missed some important social activity. He just wasn't good at it. But it made Jack look bad, and that Daniel couldn't stand. He did wish that every once and a while Jack would at least take a passing interest in these things, and maybe every now and again go pick out the damn gift himself, but Jack just took it all in stride that Daniel handled it all and never offered to help or even commented that he thought Daniel was doing things okay.

He pulled his knees up close and dropped his stuffy head on them. In the three months since Jack took command they seemed to be taking care of everybody but each other. And with Daniel still going off world and Jack staying Earth-side their time together seemed almost non-existent, and as he thought about the calendar he realized that every weekend and every free night they had was booked. They just had no time alone, no time to reconnect emotional and physically. And there was a distance between them that had never been there before, and it terrified Daniel. He felt like he was losing Jack a little at a time and he didn't know what to do.

Jack got home from the mountain to a quiet house. He head the muffled sound of Daniel coughing in the kitchen and headed there. He saw Daniel sitting on the floor with his face in his knees and chided gently, "I don't think Fraiser's gonna count this as bed rest."

Daniel lifted his head and Jack could see that his eyes were red-rimmed, and not just from his cold. He could also see Daniel struggling with words again, which normally meant something really important was going on in that head of his and that Jack needed to pay attention. He sat down next to Daniel on the floor and waited, knowing Daniel would eventually spit it out.

"I screwed up again."

"Since the planet is still in one piece I sincerely doubt that"

"Jack."

"No, seriously. I'm sure I would have gotten at least a memo about an intergalactic screw up. So anything else should be easy to fix. What is it? Late fees on the library books again? Used the last of the toilet paper? Drank the last of the beer? What?"

Daniel shook his head gently, and gestured towards the calendar, "No. That. I forgot about the party tonight. I didn't get the gift or the pastries. And I honestly don't feel well enough to go run out and do it now. Or even go to the damn party, actually."

Jack threw his arm around Daniel and pulled him in close, he could feel Daniel's fever coursing through his body. Daniel wasn't going anywhere but back to bed, but Jack sensed that there was a bigger issue at play here and he wanted to resolve it. "Daniel, you've been sick as a dog for days, you didn't forget, you just had other things on your mind like not coughing up a lung."

Daniel let himself melt into Jack a little, and said, "I'm not good at all this stuff, Jack."

"What stuff?"

"All that." he gestured again to the calendar.

"What are you talking about? You are great at all that stuff. You make it look so easy I can't stand it sometimes. But we have become very popular, huh? Never a dull moment."

Daniel was taken aback at Jack's offhand compliment, he didn't think Jack had even noticed, let a lone been impressed. A little flicker of warmth spread through Daniel's chest at the thought. And it was in that moment that Daniel realized that Jack couldn't or didn't always put into words the things that he felt, and maybe, just maybe Jack was feeling some of the same things Daniel was, so he gave Jack an opening, "Never a quiet moment."

"Yeah, that too."

Daniel whispered softly, "I miss you."

And there it was, Jack thought, what was really bothering Daniel. He squeezed Daniel to him a little harder, "We haven't had a whole lot of time to ourselves lately, have we?"

Daniel didn't say anything but shook his head.

Jack took a deep breath and let it out, "I miss you too. It's lonely around here when you're off world. House is empty."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, for starters I think that we need to look at that calendar and do some pruning. Folks will just have to get over it. And maybe we need to put ourselves on that calendar. Plan some stuff just the two of us."

They spoke honestly for quite a while, and sorted some things out, when finally an extended bout of coughing made Jack say, "C'mon. You need drugs and a bed." The fact that Daniel didn't argue let Jack know just how miserable he felt.

He got Daniel situated in bed and went back out into the kitchen, he picked up the phone and called the Colonel that was expecting them and gave him his regrets. Then he called a number that he hadn't used in a while, not since Daniel had taken over handling the whole gift thing so much better than he ever had, it was a florist in town run by a buddy of his. And after ordering his standard green plant with a big bow to be delivered to the party in their stead he went and curled up around Daniel and held him tightly.

\---------------

That night, Arlis groggily answered his phone, it was the middle of the night and he had only been asleep for an hour or so having spent most of the evening entertaining himself with his slave.

It was the Colonel from Denver on the phone, asking him for a favor. Turns out that he acquired a slave, that while not officially off the grid, was sort of lost in the shuffle and he needed a place to stash her for a while until the interest about her died down. The Colonel agreed that Arlis could play with her as much as he wanted, but he just couldn't take her virginity, at least until she was completely lost in the system, however the Colonel did chuckle evilly and remind Arlis that she had another hole and a mouth he could use. Arlis quickly agreed, his Daniel had become far too complacent and docile, and a fresh piece of ass would be fun to break in. He quickly agreed and before he could even ask, the Colonel informed him that, yes, in fact she had blue eyes.

\---------------

After that night things were better, Daniel still stressed over the social activities, but now he and Jack talked about them, and a lot of invitations were turned down and the gift procurement duties were divvied up between them. Daniel also started turning down extra off world missions. They fell back into the comfortable pattern of taking care of each other equally and their relationship was stronger for it.

A couple of months later they had gone out for a casual evening, just the two of them. There had been a free string quartet concert on the town green that they had enjoyed and followed it up by a late dinner at a favorite restaurant. They had both been riding a little buzz of arousal all night brought on by the innocent touches and proximity of each other and both men knew that it would be an incredible night in bed when they got home.

But that thought would have to be put on hold as they were surprised to see a strange car in their driveway. Jack did not hesitate to slip the gun out of his ankle holster and as they stealthily approached the house they were even more surprised to see a huge young man sporting a military hair cut sitting on their front step with a person wrapped in a blanket on his lap being cradled in his arms. As soon as he saw them he exclaimed, "Oh, thank god. General you have to help me."

It took Jack a moment to recognize the man, he was relatively new to the base, a Marine Sergeant assigned to base security. "Sergeant Brooks?"

"Yes, Sir. Please you have to help her, Sir, I didn't know what else to do. Please, Sir."

Daniel had edged closer and he could see that it was a woman wrapped in that blanket. There were bruises distorting her features, and her her hair was filthy and limp. She was unconscious, and her stillness concerned Daniel.

Jack attempted to calm Brooks and said in his command voice, "Brooks! Just tell me what happened."

The Marine training in Brooks responded immediately to that tone and he said, "I stole her from him, Sir. He hurt her so badly. It wasn't right. And he wanted me to hurt her too, but I couldn't, Sir, it's just not right. So I snuck her out of there. But I didn't know where else to go, so I came here."

Daniel gently placed his hand on her throat to check for a pulse and found one that was weak and thready and he said, "Jack, she needs a doctor."

"Let's get in the house, I'll get Fraiser over here." He didn't have to tell Daniel that he wanted more information out of Brooks before they went anywhere, including the base. Jack was not one to walk into things blindly.

The huge Marine stood and effortlessly carried the woman into the house and placed her ever so gently on the couch. Jack had his cell phone to his ear as they walked inside and Fraiser was soon on her way. Daniel went to unwrap the dirty blanket from around the woman when Brooks stopped him and said, "Uh, she doesn't have any clothes on."

Daniel nodded and didn't unwrap her but did push it away from her face. He was shocked when she opened her eyes for a moment and it only took a second for a spark of recognition to flare in her blue eyes that mirrored his own and she croaked out, "Daniel," before falling unconscious again.

\---------------

Jack had been standing behind Daniel and asked, "You know her, Daniel?"

Daniel shook his head as he regarded the woman, "I've never seen her before. I have no idea."

Jack turned to Brooks who was standing nervously nearby, "Okay. What exactly happened? Don't leave anything out."

The moment that Jack heard, "Well, Sir, when I transferred in I met this guy down in the motor pool..." he knew instinctively that Arlis was involved. And sure enough he was, Jack didn't interrupt Brooks though, he just let him tell the story.

"So he's been talking about his new big screen t.v. he bought and all the channels he gets with the new satellite dish so I figured that's what he meant when he asked me if I wanted to come over and play with his new toy. I swear to god, Sir, that's what I thought he meant, I would never have gone out there otherwise."

Jack had always been able to tell when someone was lying to him, and Brooks was not, the pure revulsion over what he had seen at Arlis' house was pouring out of him. And he took a huge risk in stealing another man's slave. Not that any judicial panel would convict him after one look at the battered and gaunt looking woman currently on Jack's couch, but it was still a big risk.

Jack decided to take a leaf out of Hammond's book in dealing with the young man, and reached over and placed a grounding hand on Brooks' shoulder and said, "I believe you, son, now I need to know what happened when you went out there."

Brooks looked down at the floor, struggling for words, but he finally replied, "His house was... weird, Sir, he ah... had all these metal eye bolts and hooks installed all over the place. When I got there he must have been flipping through a porn magazine, cause he left it on the coffee table. But it wasn't regular porn, Sir, it was some sick shit, if you'll pardon my language. And when he caught me looking at it on the table he asked me if I was into that, and that it was okay if I was, because he knew lots of guys that liked to play like that. I didn't know what to say, Sir, and I was trying to think of a way to get hell out of there. So then he tells me that I need to lighten up and that I should go spend some time with his toy."

Jack and Daniel listened in horror as Brooks described Arlis leading him to a bedroom down the hallway where strapped face down to the bed and gagged was the woman. Arlis told him that he could do anything he wanted to her except take her virginity. There apparently were all kinds of sex toys and whips and floggers on a shelf. Brooks could tell that she had been sodomized and beaten brutally, and repeatedly. And she looked half starved and barely conscious.

"I didn't know what else to do, Sir. I managed to pop the lock off the window and I wrapped her in that blanket and got her the hell out of there. He's got to know by now that she's missing. I know it's wrong to take another man's slave, Sir, but what he did to her, it's not right. And there's a special place in hell reserved for him for doing it. And I'll take whatever punishment they give me for taking her, but please just keep her safe, Sir."

"Relax, son. You did the right thing. No one is going to hurt her any more. Now the bathroom's down the hall, and there's soda in the fridge. Why don't you go take a couple minutes, get a soda, pull yourself together, and wait for me in the kitchen."

There was relief in the big man's eyes, both that he wasn't in trouble but more importantly that Jack believed him. "Yes, Sir."

As soon as Brooks went down the hall, Jack scrubbed his face roughly with his hands and said quietly to Daniel, "I knew I should have shot that son of a bitch."

"Normally I would disagree with you, but I'm a little biased in this case. He really is deranged, and dangerous." Daniel was absently stroking her hair, hoping that is was at least a little soothing to the unconscious woman.

Jack flipped open his phone and called Kawalsky, "Charlie, I need you guys." He sent Kawalsky, Teal'c, and a contingent of SF's to go and bring Arlis in and drop him in a holding cell, emphasis on drop. His next call was to the on base Slave Oversight Officer, he needed one of them to go with Kawalsky to document the evidence of abuse. While he was on the phone, Jack was unlocking the gun safe in the closet and removed two weapons. He handed one of them to Daniel and slipped the other in the back of his pants. Without a word said, Daniel knew that Jack expected Arlis to show up at the house and that Daniel was to shoot to kill if necessary.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Jack answered it with his gun in hand. It was Fraiser. Jack let out the breath he was holding and let her in along with the female nurse she had the forethought to pickup on the way, then secured the door.

In short order Janet had shooed the men out of the room so she could examine the woman, and they found themselves in the kitchen with Brooks. Daniel went through the motions of making coffee, knowing it was going to be a long night. His mind was a jumble of emotions, guilt front and center of them all. He couldn't help but wonder if Arlis had hurt this poor woman because he could no longer hurt Daniel. But it had been almost two years since Arlis had had any contact with Daniel outside of the hateful looks from the motor pool booth.

Janet's nurse came to get Jack a little while later leaving Brooks and Daniel in the kitchen. Daniel wasn't quite prepared when Brooks asked, "Mr. O'Neill may I ask you a question?"

Daniel had almost forgotten that if someone didn't know his own last name that it was appropriate for them to use the surname of his pledged officer, he was so well known at the SGC that he never heard himself referred to that way. "Please, call me Daniel. And sure, on the question, I'll answer it if I can."

The young man hesitated a moment but forced himself to ask, "Why would Captain Arlis want to hurt that poor girl? I mean, he's not a bad looking guy, I can't imagine that he has a hard time attracting women. I just don't get it."

"This isn't the first run in we've had with him. And ah, I really don't know. But General O'Neill summed it up to me a long time ago pretty well I think when he said that there was just something hardwired wrong in Arlis."

Brooks nodded in agreement. Then he asked, "How long have you and the General been pledged?"

The corners of Daniel's mouth quirked up, just like they did every single time someone asked him that, the idea that he and Jack were pledged a source of joy for him still, "Almost two years, he claimed me six months before that."

"A little late, but congratulations."

It was said honestly and from the heart. And it made Daniel wonder about something, "Thanks. So what about you? Pledged? Any kids?"

A grin similar to the one that had just been on Daniel's face now crossed Brooks', "Not yet, but maybe soon. There's a girl, June's her name, she's assigned over at the hospital, she's a nurse's aide, helps out with patients. Met her when I got reassigned to the mountain."

Daniel wished the young man well, and the men went back to their own introspection as they sipped their coffee.

\---------------

Jack meanwhile was seeing red in the living room as Janet filled him in on her initial findings.

"She appears to be in her late twenties, no pledge cuff or id tags, and no scars or other identifying marks. She's definitely dehydrated and borderline emaciated. Probably hasn't had a healthy amount of food in a month. She has been beaten severely, and I can't guarantee without x-rays but I don't feel any broken bones."

Jack saw her take a deep breath before continuing, and knew what was coming, Janet had given him reports in the past about slaves that had been sexually assaulted. "She was most certainly sodomized, whether anatomically or with other objects I can't tell you, but there was evidence of repeated anal trauma. No severe tearing that requires any sort of stitching, just a topical antibiotic creme should heal the minor abrasions, and time will heal the internal bruising. There was no semen present for DNA testing, Sir, I'm sorry. Her mouth is raw from whatever he was gagging her with, and there damage to the inside of her lips from her teeth. But nothing needing stitches, we'll just need to keep an eye out for infection, but the human mouth heals quickly."

Jack hated to ask the next question because it seemed so irrelevant in the grand scheme, the law may have seen a difference in a female slave being raped vaginally versus anally but Jack didn't, it was one of those ridiculous loopholes in the law. A virgin male slave that was sodomized was deflowered, a virgin female slave that was sodomized was sexually assaulted, but if she were penetrated vaginally she was deflowered. In Jack's opinion the woman had been raped and tortured by any other name. But he needed to know, "Virginity?"

Janet gulped but answered, knowing the weight of the question, "Intact, Sir."

He nodded, the wheels in his mind spinning at light speed. He needed Arlis alone in a room with no cameras. Five minutes is all it would take.

Janet continued, "I would like to get her to the infirmary, Sir. We gave her a bag of fluids already but she really needs more, and I gave her a sedative to keep her out for a while and a heavy dose of antibiotics to help her body fight off any infection. We'll get her cleaned up too, while she's out so she doesn't have to wake up like that."

"Did she tell you her name?"

"No, Sir, I'm sorry. She opened her eyes for a while, but didn't say anything. It's not surprising given the trauma she's experienced. Honestly, Sir, she's going to have a long emotional recovery from this. We'll have to make sure she's given some good counseling."

Jack scrubbed his face, "Yeah. Once I find out who the hell she is, and where the hell Arlis got her. One thing at a time."

\---------------

Janet called the base and had them send an ambulance down so they could transport her back to the mountain. Jack went back into the kitchen and Brooks scrambled to his feet, "At ease, Brooks."

Daniel asked Jack, "How is she?"

"Not as bad as it could be, but bad enough. Fraiser's taking her back to the mountain as soon as the ambulance gets here. I've got to head in too, and you're coming with me, you're not staying here alone until Arlis is in custody."

Daniel agreed with a nod, and Jack turned his attention to Brooks, "Sergeant, do you have a personal weapon with you?"

"Yes, Sir. I have my sidearm in my car."

"Good. You just found yourself on bodyguard duty. I want you to go with Fraiser in the ambulance. If there is any trouble between here and there with Arlis or any of his little friends, you are hereby ordered to shoot to kill. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

\---------------

On the drive to the mountain Jack cell phone rang, it was Kawalsky with bad news, "Sorry, General, he's not here. Looks like he packed in a hurry and bailed."

Jack closed the phone and a moment later he made Daniel jump when he fiercely yelled, "DAMNIT!"

Daniel asked quietly, "They don't have Arlis, do they?"

Jack didn't answer right away and they were soon pulling into Jack's parking spot. Jack turned the truck off and turned to Daniel, "I need you to do something for me without arguing. Can you do that?"

Hearing the worry in Jack's voice, he knew it was important, "What, Jack?"

"Until we find Arlis, I don't want you going anywhere alone outside the mountain. If I can't be with you, take Teal'c, or Kawalsky, or Sam. And I want you to be armed, don't go anywhere without a gun. I'll take care of the authorization."

Daniel knew that Jack wasn't putting that restriction on Daniel without just cause and although he didn't like the idea of carrying a gun, he saw the sense in it. Before he could reply Jack pulled Daniel into a tight embrace and Daniel could feel the tension in Jack's body, tension that was voiced as Jack hoarsely whispered, "He hurt her, Daniel, like no one should ever be hurt. I don't think I could stand it if he hurt you too. Be careful. Please be careful."

Daniel squeezed back tightly and said, "I will, Jack. I promise."

They sat there for a long unbroken moment, simply soaking in each other's strength and support before finally heading into the mountain to organize a manhunt for Arlis.

\---------------  
tbc...


	3. Chapter 3

Jack was at his desk with his head resting on his folded arms. It had been a long night, a very long night. Daniel was sitting beside the woman's bed in the infirmary on the odd chance that she might wake up, for some reason she hadn't been afraid of Daniel earlier and knew his name. And now that they knew it was Arlis that had been abusing her it really made him curious as to how she recognized him.

There was knock on Jack's door about one o'clock in the morning, and he sat up rubbing the tiredness away from his eyes. "Enter."

It was Major Michaels, the head Slave Oversight Officer for the base, he had returned from Arlis' house and had put together an initial report for Jack.

Jack could see that he was a little nervous and that didn't bode well, not much rattled Michaels. "Just spit it out Michaels, it's been a long night."

Michaels cleared his throat a little and started, "Yes, Sir."

They had collected a massive quantity of material from the house, aside from the sex toys and pain implements, they had found a large stash of illegal print and video pornography depicting the torture and abuse of slaves. But that wasn't what was disturbing Michaels, and he finally just looked the General in the eye and said, "It appears that Arlis was obsessed with Daniel, Sir."

Jack's raised eyebrow signaled him to continue and Michaels told Jack that they had found a stash of security tapes from the SGC that showed Arlis abusing Daniel. He pulled out a folder and showed Jack that they had also found long-range photos of Daniel that were much more recent as his pledge cuff in the picture had a gold star on it, some were even taken as Daniel walked around the house bare chested in just his sweatpants, taken through the window.

"We do have evidence, Sir, that he did in fact deflower a slave illegally."

Jack was staring at the pictures of Daniel, the idea that Arlis was still infatuated with Daniel and was this close to him scaring the hell out of Jack. Michaels' words brought Jack out of his thoughts and he replied, "What did you find?"

"A video. I think you need to see it, Sir. It's vile, but I really think you should see it."

The stepped into the briefing room where an airman had set up the video player and Michaels started the video. Unlike the security camera video, this was crisp and clear and they could see every detail as Arlis brutally raped the young man in the video as he watched a grainy security video of himself abusing Daniel. A young man that looked a little like Daniel, a young man Arlis called Daniel.

The video went black for a moment and then a new section began, and after that section yet another and another. Arlis had raped and tortured that young man over and over again for hours, always with the security footage of the real Daniel playing in the background.

Jack felt sick, physically sick.

No one had heard Daniel enter the briefing room but all heads turned as he exclaimed, "Oh my god," as he looked at the images on the screen.

"Daniel." Jack said as signaled to Michaels to kill the video. He crossed over to the shell shocked Daniel who was trying to process what he had seen on the video.

His voice was a whisper as he said, "He hurt them because of me."

Jack grasped Daniel's shoulders and said, "No. He hurt them because he's a sick and twisted son of a bitch that needs a bullet in his head. You have nothing to do with it."

"I have everything to do with it, Jack. Maybe if I had just given in, or something, he would have left them alone."

Michaels spoke up from behind Jack, "Doubtful. His behavior is escalating, Daniel. He may have fixated on you initially, but even if you had given him what he wanted, he would have most likely still moved on to others. He's a sadist, and no amount of pain or suffering will ever be enough for him."

"Not your fault, Daniel." Jack stressed, squeezing Daniel's shoulders.

Daniel closed his eyes for a moment and tried to clear the images from his mind, it didn't work, and he knew he would see them in his nightmares for a long time to come.

Michaels cleared his throat again and said, "I _have_ found out who the female slave is, Sir."

Jack turned, "Who?"

"Her name is Elle. Have you heard of General Edgar O'Connell, Sir?"

"Yeah, I just went to his funeral a couple of months ago."

He and Daniel had flown out to California for the funeral, it wasn't often that the military buried a four-star General. O'Connell had been living a quiet life of seclusion after retiring a little over twenty years ago. He had been rarely seen in the last twenty years, but before his retirement he had been well liked and highly respected. He had made a rare trip to Washington for a special awards ceremony and had had a stroke that killed him instantly. As far as Jack knew, O'Connell had no children and was not pledged to anyone.

"I don't have all the details yet, Sir. But apparently Elle has been living with him since she was born, although we have no formal record of who her sire is and there is no claim to her in the system from O'Connell."

"Do we know for sure that she's not his kid?"

"I don't know, Sir. She is listed as a slave, with a slave mother. But there is no listing for her father. I can have Dr. Fraiser run a DNA test to be certain about O'Connell. She is also classified as a certified virgin although she's twenty-eight and that's a little unusual, sounds like someone missed reporting the date of her deflowering."

Jack let out a breath, "Actually they didn't, according to Fraiser she's intact. But anyway, so we don't know why she was with O'Connell if she's not his kid and he didn't claim her, and we still don't know how she ended up with Arlis."

"What is interesting, Sir, is that the bulletin notifying my office that she was missing was generated out of Washington at the request of a former Swiss Ambassador named Wagner. I've got calls into Washington to find out more information, Sir."

"A Swiss Ambassador? Why are the Swiss involved? This doesn't make any sense." Jack thought long and hard about the funeral, trying to put a face with Wagner's name, nothing clicked.

"No, Sir, it doesn't. I'm hoping to have more information soon. I've also got someone working on identifying the young man in the video."

"Good. Let me know as soon as you have anything else."

"Yes, Sir."

"Oh, and one other thing, Michaels, pull up Sergeant Brooks service record and give it a read through. Let me know what you think about pulling him into your department as an SOO. I think it might be a good fit." _Excellent fit_ was what Jack was actually thinking. Brooks had the makings of a compassionate Slave Oversight Officer, something Jack personally felt needed to be encouraged. Michaels himself was a perfect example, he knew the law and obeyed it to the letter, but was fair and understanding to the slaves, and vigilant in his efforts to prevent abuse. Since he took over the department a year ago when his predecessor retired he had really cleaned house, getting rid of SOO's that curried favor with the officers and looked the other way when slaves were being abused. He also started curbing the spurious reports of abuse that slaves would file, there were some frequent reporters that just wanted to get certain officers in trouble that soon found out that he was on to them and wouldn't tolerate it. He was tough, and fair, and probably the best SOO that Jack had ever known. Brooks could learn a lot from Michaels and the military would be the better for it.

"I will do that, Sir, and I'll get back to you. I can certainly use the help in the department."

Jack dismissed Michaels and he and Daniel headed into his office. Jack didn't hesitate to close the door and pull Daniel in for a hug. He could tell that Daniel was still very upset about the video.

"Not your fault." He said as he ran his hands up and down Daniel's back, trying to alleviate a little of the stress he felt there.

"I know, at least intellectually I know. I just feel so guilty. He hurt that guy because he looked like me. I just don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that."

Jack pulled back and met Daniel's eyes, "I know. Me either."

\---------------

The next twenty-four hours were hectic, normal life at the SGC didn't stop and the manhunt for Arlis just added to the frantic pace. Jack knew Daniel was working in his office, the translations that needed to be done keeping his mind off of more current events. It was late and Jack should have been trying to catch a few hours of much needed sleep but every time he closed his eyes he kept seeing the video of Arlis brutalizing Elle, because of course the sick bastard had videotaped that too. He hadn't seen her since they brought her to the infirmary and he found himself heading there just to check on her for himself.

Thankfully the infirmary was nearly empty, and Janet had given her the bed furthest down the line near the wall to give her a little more privacy. The lights in the room were dimmed given the late hour. One of the nurses greeted him and he asked her, "How's she doing?"

The nurse smiled gently, they all knew that the woman had a long road to recovery, "She was awake a little while ago, Sir. I managed to get her to eat a little. She's not talking, but we kind of expected that. She's very afraid. I just gave her something to help her sleep. It will help her body heal."

Jack nodded thoughtfully, "Thanks."

He found himself walking towards her bed and saw her sleeping, and was surprised to see an absolutely peaceful expression on her face amidst all the bruises. He tried to envision her face before Arlis had beaten and starved her and he realized that she was beautiful. Her skin was fair with a hint of freckles, and she had long full eyelashes and graceful cheekbones. Her hair was light brunette with a hint of strawberry blonde and Jack found himself wanting to know what her smile looked like, and what she would look like outside on a summer's day with the sun illuminating her. And in a silly moment in his mind he decided that she didn't really look like an Elle to him, but she could be an Ellie. And from that point forward in his mind she would forever be Ellie.

As he stood there looking at her, he whispered a promise, "No one is ever going to hurt you again, Ellie. I promise."

He pulled a chair over to her bedside and started his own vigil. The same vigil he kept when Daniel was in the infirmary. And it was a vigil that the nurses knew well, and when he fell asleep later one of them would drape a blanket around him as they silently went about the business of caring for their patients.

\---------------

Late the next morning Janet had stopped by Elle's bed and saw that she was awake, curled up on her side and staring at the gray concrete wall, but awake. Janet said gently, "Hi, Elle. I'm Dr. Fraiser. I don't know if you remember seeing me or not but I've been taking care of you the last couple of days. I know you might night want to talk anybody right now and that's okay honey, it really is. But I need to know how you're feeling, and if you're in any pain. Do you think you can just shake your head yes or no for me?"

It took a moment but there was a definite nod from the head on the pillow and it relieved Janet that Elle would at least respond and hadn't crawled so far into her own head that she was catatonic.

"Good. Are you feeling dizzy or woozy?" Elle shook her head "no".

"Good. Now we didn't give you any pain medication this morning because I wanted to see how much medication you actually needed, are you in pain?"

She ached all over and deep inside but she really didn't want more of the drugs that fogged her head so instead of a yes or no she simply shrugged.

"Should I take that as a little pain?" Janet prompted and got a nod in response.

"Okay, we'll give you a mild pain reliever and if you need more you just have to let me or one of the nurses know, okay?" Another nod.

"We're going to take out that i.v. later now that we've gotten you hydrated. Maybe get you a set of pajama's instead of that gown, how's that sound?" Another little nod and Janet could see Elle's lip quivering as she tried not to cry.

"Elle, I can't imagine how hard this is for you, but we are all here for you. And we will help you any way we can. You're safe here, nobody will hurt you. And no one will think any less of you if you need to cry and get it all out. Anything you need, you just need to tell us. Okay?"

The nod was a little tentative this time and Janet was getting ready to walk away when Elle asked, "Is Daniel okay?"

The question threw Janet for a second, both the fact that Elle had actually spoken and the fact that she wasn't aware that Elle knew Daniel, he hadn't mentioned it when he sat with her, "Daniel is fine, Elle. I saw him a little while ago. Would you like him to come and see you?"

This time Janet saw the tears start streaming down Elle's face as she nodded strongly.

"Okay. I'll get him for you."

\---------------

Janet caught Jack and Daniel as they were heading for the commissary for an early lunch, neither man having eaten a great deal for a couple of days.

"General. Daniel. I'm glad I caught you."

"What's going on, Doc?"

Janet looked to Daniel, "Elle is asking to see you."

"She's awake and talking?"

"We pulled back on her heavy pain meds so I could get a better handle on her condition, so she's awake and lucid. I had a conversation with her consisting solely of head nods until she asked if you were okay."

Daniel turned to Jack, "Why would she think I wasn't okay?"

"Who knows what kind of crap Arlis told her. You up for seeing her?"

Daniel just gave Jack a flat look and Jack threw his hands up in mock surrender, "Just asking. Why don't we go now. I'll hang out with the doc her in her office while you talk to Ellie."

Daniel caught the little nickname and corrected, "Elle."

He also caught the odd looked that flashed across Jack's face as he replied, "Elle. Right. Elle." Daniel wasn't quite sure what it was all about but he made a mental note to talk with Jack later. Jack had been putting up a pretty good front throughout all of this but Daniel knew that the brutality did bother Jack more than he was letting on to anyone.

\---------------

The head of Elle's bed had been raised and a table with a pitcher of water and a couple of unopened apple juices was along side of her. Her eyes were downcast, and her fingers plucked absently at the blanket. The bruises on her face were coloring horribly and she looked even thinner if that were possible. Daniel approached quietly, with his hands in his pockets as not to startle or scare her. As he got within a few feet of the bed he said gently, "Hi. Doctor Fraiser said you asked to see me."

She looked up and stared at him in confusion, "You're not Daniel."

"I am Daniel. Daniel Jackson."

She shook her head, "Where is the other Daniel?"

"You know another Daniel, Elle?"

"He was in that house with me, he took care of me. He looks like you, a little."

Daniel got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Did Arlis have another slave? He would have had to taken the slave with him, Kawalsky and company had been all over that house.

When he didn't answer her Elle asked, "You did get him out too? He hurts him. Worse than he hurts me. You have help him. Please. Please. You have to help him. Please. Please. Oh, please." Her pleas turned into hysterics that she couldn't stop. Janet and Jack rushed out of her office hearing the entire exchange and Janet called for a sedative to calm her.

Daniel stood in shock for a moment, processing what she had just said. He vaguely felt Jack's hand on his shoulder and he said, "He kept that other slave. The one on the tape. Oh my god. Jack, we have to search that house again, there has to be a clue as to where Arlis went with him. We have to find him before Arlis kills him."

Jack took action and pulled Daniel out of the infirmary and towards his office. Once there he ordered Michaels to his office and Kawalsky to go back to the house and search again.

\---------------

Charlie started a methodical search of Arlis' house. He looked at every scrap of a note left lying around, even pizza receipts and dry cleaning tickets. Nothing. Not one clue to tell him where the son of a bitch had disappeared to in the night. Charlie's anger grew with every piece of odd hardware he saw in the house. Eye bolts in random corners of the ceiling, embedded deep in the studs for strength. Other hooks and loops here and there throughout the house. He was wandering around the living room when something odd caught his attention.

The couch was in the middle of the room, facing the large flat screen television on the wall, against the back of the couch was a sturdy wooden table about groin height. He noticed that particularly because he had almost caught the sharp corner of it in his own groin more than once as they searched the house the first time. This time though, he noticed something about the table that made him look further, along the top of it nearest the couch were scratch marks, some looked like they were from something rubbing on the table, others looked like claw marks, like from fingernails. He also noticed a wear mark on the couch that looked like a rope or something had been rubbing in a consistent way across the velour of the center cushion. As he walked around the couch to stand behind the table and look over the couch he also realized that the table was a little wider than shoulder width and as he looked down at the legs of the table with a sick feeling in his stomach it all came together. When he went back around to shove the coffee table out of the way and flip up the throw rug to reveal a strong folding metal loop bolted down the picture solidified in his mind and he almost lost his lunch. Arlis would bend someone over that table, shackle their hands with a long lead to that loop in the floor, shackle their feet to the table legs so they couldn't close their legs, and fuck them while he watched whatever porn got him off on his big screen.

He saw red, and before he could control his temper that table went flying through the air directly into that big screen television. And although that was immensely satisfying on many levels, when he realized what he had done he went outside to get some air. None of this was helping find Arlis, or that poor slave that he had with him.

\---------------

Michaels was sitting with Jack and Daniel at the briefing table. The latter two trying to choke down sandwiches although neither really had much of an appetite, but them getting sick wouldn't help anyone.

Michaels had some information, "We think we've identified the male slave from the tape. Name is William Meadows, he's thirty-two, went Away Without Permission four months ago from his assigned work detail in Denver."

Daniel looked at the file photo of William, the resemblance was a little spooky. He asked, "Any idea why he went AWP?"

Michaels addressed Jack, "Well, Sir, as you know I've found many instances where what was put in an SOO's report in no way matches what really happened. So let me just say that the official report claims that he requested a week off with no reason given, and when it was denied, he was first belligerent to the SOO and then he ran and that was the last time anyone saw him. Now I did a little digging and I interviewed a couple of his bunkmates, and it turns out that his half sister was dying of cancer and he wanted the leave to be able to go and visit her in Virginia before she died. The SOO in charge apparently didn't like the guy and denied his request."

Jack was disgusted, "Son of a... there was no reason to deny that type of request if he could make a call and verify about the sister."

Michaels sighed, "I know, Sir. That's the sort of thing I'm pushing to clean up. You can be sure that nothing like that happens under my watch, Sir."

"Never doubted that for a second, Michaels. So do we have any intel on how he went from AWP to Arlis?"

Michaels looked a tad uncomfortable and Jack knew it was something big, he wouldn't be hesitating over a small fish SOO, this had to be higher up the food chain. "I've been hearing stories about a Colonel Grove in Denver that's making a name for himself in tracking down AWP's. Some of the stories say that the runaways are returned more than a little broken, Sir."

"Broken?"

"I don't have any evidence other than medical reports that show unauthorized deflowerings, beatings, rapes, sodomy, and everything that goes along with it. One report even documented that a male slave had all of his front teeth removed and evidence of some sort of glue residue and damage that was most likely from a permanent bite preventer being installed and ripped out. But none of the slaves will talk, no one will file a formal complaint. And the suicide rate among those reports I collected is almost seventy-five percent. Whatever is happening to those slaves is beyond comprehension, Sir."

Daniel chimed in, "Well if Arlis is any sort of a poster boy for these people I think we have a good idea what's being done to them."

Michaels added, "There is a lot of money changing hands in this particular mess too, Sir. And I don't know how high up or far it all goes. But everyone is buying this Colonel Grove's word that he _finds _the slaves in that condition."

Jack took deep breath and let it out, "Okay, one thing at a time. Do we have _any _link from William to either that Colonel or Arlis?"

Michaels looked at his folder, "We know that William made it to Virginia, the hospital logs do show that he got to see his sister, and I have a report from a couple of reasonably reliable witnesses that they saw William back in Denver three days later. After that it's a blank. But I do have another report of someone asking around town about William in that time frame, the description matches Colonel Grove."

"That's not enough to search Grove's house."

"No, Sir. If I had one report, one slave point a finger I could walk in there without question. But so far I don't have anything to go on."

"Is there any connection from Arlis to Grove?"

"None that I can find, we're looking through his phone records looking for a connection."

Daniel had a thought, "What about Elle? Is there any connection between her and Grove?"

Michaels opened a second folder, "She is still a mystery. I feel like we're missing something with her, I just don't know what. There is a record of her birth, and her full name is Gabrielle Foley by the way, Elle is a nickname. There is no record of her father, and her mother died when she was six. As far as I can tell she lived her whole life out at O'Connell's compound out in the woods in California. But no one knew she was there. And when he died out in Washington, no one thought about her because no one knew about her. This Ambassador Wagner had been friends with O'Connell since they were teenagers and when he came in for the funeral and didn't see Elle he initiated the missing slave report. He's frantic to find her, Sir. I've waited to contact him though, I didn't know if you yourself might want to handle it."

"That is so not a call I'm looking forward to, but I'll handle it, Michaels." Jack said solemnly.

"Thank you, Sir. Now as far as connecting Grove to Elle, I may have something. I went through any official paper trail that followed immediately after O'Connell's death. There was an order for the local motor pool in California to pick up the car assigned to O'Connell that was Air Force Property. I suspect that the officer sent out to get it met Elle out there all by herself. And maybe he either made a phone call or went back and checked her records and seeing the ify status of her documentation decided he could take her and no one would be the wiser."

"She could have been snatched right out of her home?" Jack asked.

"I believe so, Sir. I did a little more checking, the Major that runs the motor pool out there had handled the pickup order himself given O'Connell's rank. And I discovered that the good Major served four years together with Grove on a base in Florida."

"Oh god. So he kidnaps her, gives or sells her to Grove, then he gives or sells her to Arlis." Daniel was horrified.

Michaels nodded, "The only problem is finding a connection between Grove and Arlis."

Just then the airman in the corner manning the phone interrupted, "Excuse me, General. Doctor Fraiser is requesting to see you and Mr. Jackson immediately. She says it's urgent, Sir."

\---------------

Janet met them at the door and said to Daniel, "She woke up a few minutes ago frantic to talk to "your Daniel" which I am assuming means you."

"Maybe she remembered something about the other slave. Let me go talk to her."

As he approached the bed he could see that she was struggling to stay awake in spite of the sedative in her system. When she saw him relief washed across her face, and she asked hurriedly, "Did you look in the room in the basement?"

Jack, Janet, and Michaels were standing at the far end of the room and Daniel waved Michaels over and asked, "Did anyone search a room in the basement?"

Michaels got a concerned look on his face, "There was only a laundry room, there was no one down there."

Elle shook her head, "No, behind the shelves. He'd lock us in there when he had to leave the house. Maybe Daniel is in there."

Michaels was already heading for a phone, "Kawalsky is there now, let me call him and tell him to check."

Daniel looked down at Elle with a gentle smile, "We're working hard to find him. I promise. This was big help."

He could see the tears welling in her eyes and she whispered softly, "I just want him to be okay."

"I know. Believe me I know. I want that too." His hands were resting on the bar of the side rail and he wasn't quite prepared when she reached out and put her hand on top of his and gave it a squeeze. And for just a second he thought there might have been a wane little smile on her face, but it was gone before it he realized it.

\---------------

Kawalsky was in the basement trying to find some sort of a latch that would release the shelves so he could get into the hidden room. Just when he was about to call the mountain and request some C4 he found the latch and slid the shelves out of the way. It opened up a room about ten by ten, illuminated only by the light from where he was standing. He could see a toilet with no seat in the far corner, and in his own head he pieced together that the washing machine was on the opposite side of the wall from it, must have made running the plumbing easy. But it was what was next to that toilet that he would never forget as long as he lived.

A bare mattress was tucked next to the toilet on the floor. There were no pillows, no blanket on it. Just a man. A man that was covered in deep bruises and welts. A man that was at least forty pounds thinner than he should be. His spine and ribs were painfully visible as the naked man tried to curl himself even further into a ball and protect himself from the kicks and blows he expected to rain down on him.

Charlie had thought he knew what to expect if and when he found William. But this wasn't it. Not by a long shot. And he was so far out of his element it wasn't even funny.

He went to take a step into the room and man on the mattress almost tried to curl himself up behind the toilet. Charlie stepped back trying to figure out what to do, what to say. Finally he sat cross legged on the floor near the door and tried to keep his voice low and calm, "Nobody's gonna hurt you, William. My name's Charlie. Elle is very worried about you. A buddy of mine rescued her a couple nights ago, we didn't know you were here or else we'da gotten you out too."

At the mention of Elle's name a little of the tension went out of William. Arlis had never called her anything but the bitch and the whore. He turned his head cautiously to look at Charlie.

"Look, William, I don't know what to say or do to make you trust me. But all I want to do is get you out of here and get you back up to the base so the doc can check you out and we'll get you something to eat. Nobody wants to hurt you, and we're all looking for that son of a bitch that did."

His plain, heart spoken talk was getting through to William and as William uncurled himself from the ball he was in, more and more evidence of Arlis' cruelty became apparent.

When William finally lifted his chin and the light hit his eyes, the pain and hopelessness that Charlie saw in them broke him, and he felt the tears he had been fighting start streaming down his cheeks as he croaked out, "Oh god. I am so sorry, William. But I promise, no one is _ever_ going to hurt you again. Ever."

William swallowed hard and said quietly, "Billy. My name's Billy."

"Well, Billy, whatdaya say we get the hell out of this house?"

Charlie knew that if anyone asked him fifty years from now what his greatest accomplishment in his life was, he wouldn't hesitate to say that getting Billy to leave that room and that house was the thing he was most proud of doing.

\---------------

The call that had been routed to the infirmary by the switchboard elicited many reactions for those there. Michaels had been the one to speak to Charlie, and after hanging up the phone told Janet and Jack that Charlie found William, and that that he was bringing him in to the infirmary. And he also shared that near miraculously, William was able to make it on his own steam, they didn't need an ambulance. Janet quickly arranged to have medical personnel meet them at the entrance.

Jack could feel the relief almost to his core. Now all they had to do was find Arlis. His eyes went to Daniel who was sitting near Ellie's bed, his hand held hostage by hers as she dozed, and he saw the gentle way Daniel was watching her. He quietly walked over to them and said in a low voice, "Hey."

Daniel looked up at him and Jack could see the worry and the guilt lurking behind those eyes. He placed a light hand on the back of Daniel's neck and could feel the tension. He rubbed gently, trying to ease some of it but knowing that it would be a very long time before either of them really released all of the stress that the revelations of the past few days had induced.

Daniel asked quietly, trying not to wake Ellie, "Any word?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, Kawalsky just called. He found him in a hidden room. He's alive and Charlie's on his way here with him now."

Jack knew that Daniel wanted to ask a thousand questions about William's condition, but didn't, couldn't. They were so fixed on each other that it surprised them both when Ellie's voice asked groggily, "You found him?"

When Jack's eyes met hers for the first time he wasn't prepared. It wasn't the color, although the deep sapphire blue was striking, it was the absolute trust and the complete lack of fear he saw there that threw him for a loop. He had expected her to be cowering and petrified of any man that came near her. He wondered how she could be so trusting after everything that was done to her. He took a half a step closer to the bed, his hand still on Daniel's back and said, "Yes, we did, thanks to you. He'll be here in a little while. No one's going to hurt him or you anymore."

He could see her eyes drooping as she struggled to fight the remaining sedative in her system and her reply was soft, "I know. You promised."

Jack was totally taken aback, both by the thought that she had heard his earlier promise, and then by the genuine little smile that she directed at him now. A moment later she was back asleep.

Daniel was looking at him with a classic confused look on his face, and Jack said quietly with a shrug, "Well I did. I'll tell you later."

Jack crossed the room to pull Michaels into the corridor and said without preamble, "I want formal claims in the system for both William and Elle."

"Sir?" Michaels asked, confused because he knew that Jack had no other slaves.

"Under my name, Michaels. Both of them. No one is going to ever touch either of them again."

Michaels knew that Jack was taking all of this very personally. And he also knew that Jack was aware that technically they were under the guardianship of the Slave Oversight office right now and safe from further abuse, and would be until Arlis was caught and tried. But it wasn't enough for Jack. He wanted his tags on their necks as clear marker that they were under his personal protection, and that he would extract retribution himself if they were harmed again.

Seeing the seriousness in Jack's face, Michaels nodded, "I'll handle it personally, Sir."

\---------------

Twenty minutes later they were all still loitering around the infirmary, waiting for Kawalsky and William to arrive. And when they walked in, you could have heard a pin drop. William had panicked at the sight of the stretcher and the medics at the security entrance and latched onto Kawalsky. Charlie shooed away the medics, and with his arm protectively around William they walked to the infirmary.

No one said a word as they all took in the painfully skinny, battered man, naked save for the gray military blanket wrapped around him. They had gotten about ten feet into the infirmary when William caught sight of Daniel standing next to Jack and lost it. He cried out, "You're dead. This is some kind of trick." He scrambled backwards, his bare feet trying to gain purchase. But the airmen at the door blocked his path and he finally made his way to a corner where he cowered in the corner in the same tight ball that Charlie had found him in originally.

No one could calm him, and Janet was just about to have him held down and sedated. Until another voice was heard and a none too steady Ellie pushed her way past everyone to crouch down next to William. "They're not going to hurt you. He's not here and they won't let him hurt us anymore." William's panicked eyes searched Ellie's and saw the truth in them. She picked the blanket up from where it fell in his flight to the corner and draped it around him, and found his head in her lap a moment later as deep, heartrending sobs started that William just couldn't stop. Ellie wrapped her arms around him and stroked his head as she murmured things to him that were too low for anyone else to hear.

Janet called off the airmen and gestured for everyone to give William and Ellie a little room. Daniel had retreated to Janet's office, since it had been his presence that set William off in the first place. He felt Jack's presence behind him and Jack's calm voice saying that it wasn't his fault, that who knew what Arlis had told William. Daniel just wished he could make himself believe it.

They watched through the office window as Janet, with Ellie's help, convinced William to get up and climb into the bed next to Ellie's. She stood next to his bed as he allowed clean sheets and warm blankets to cover his battered body. He had stopped crying, not that anyone present thought less of him for it, and his face had taken on a numb, shell-shocked look. Daniel said quietly as they watched them, "She's probably the only thing that seems real to him right now."

"Yeah. He trusts her."

"I can't even begin to imagine what Arlis did to him all these months. Neither of them will ever be the same."

"I don't know. But they're safe now and we'll get them what they need. Oh, and just so it's not a surprise, I'm having Michaels put formal claims for both of them in my name. That will protect them both until we get this mess sorted out."

"Good."

Jack was watching Ellie, and even with the remnants of the sedative working its way out of her system and her own battered state, she was was graceful as she gently stroked William's head encouraging him to sleep. But Jack also saw that she was holding on to the bed railing with the other hand so tightly her knuckles were white, she wasn't as steady on her own feet as she wanted people to think, but she was determined to take care of William. She must have felt their eyes on her, because she straightened and looked directly at them.

The dim lighting in the infirmary softened and obscured the bruises on her face and both men were affected by the image she presented to them.

Daniel's mind scrambled to latch onto a word to describe her, finally deciding that she was regal. She stood straight and looked at them with her chin up and no fear. His mind's eye could picture her a queen from antiquity standing among the castle's crenellations as a barbarian horde approached. Women throughout history endured, endured violations and horrors, and yet still took care of those around them, nurturing and protecting. He saw that strength in her. And he was humbled.

Her eyes locked with Jack's and he felt pinned. Her eyes were searching his, as if she were looking into him instead of at him, measuring him, taking stock of his mettle. And as she stood there still stroking William's head, her eyes were holding Jack to his promise, that he would keep them safe. Something in those eyes caused something in Jack to click, and he knew in that moment that he would kill for her, he would die for her. And that thought surprised him, the only other person, outside of his son, that he had ever felt that way about was Daniel. But he knew he would, and very subtly he nodded once to her, reaffirming his promise. But in the disquiet of his own mind he wondered what the cost of keeping that promise was going to be.

When her attention was once again fixed on William, Daniel slipped out of the infirmary quietly to head for his office, not wanting to traumatize William any further.

An airman interrupted Jack's further introspection with a message that had him leaving infirmary, double time.

\---------------

He reached the security check point to see Kawalsky struggling against two airmen, and Michaels trying unsuccessfully to calm him down.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack demanded.

Charlie jerked out the grasp of the airmen and turned to Jack, "Tell'em to let me go, Sir. I'm going to find that son of a bitch."

Jack could see the rage and frustration pouring out of Charlie, easy to recognize because they were simmering beneath Jack's own surface.

"Stand down, Charlie. This isn't the way to handle it."

"With all due respect, Sir, the hell it isn't. Did you see what he did to him?" He pointed in the general direction of the infirmary.

Jack put a hand on Charlie's shoulder, "Yeah. But this isn't the way. It's bigger than just Arlis and we need to get them all. Trust me, we will get them, but I want every last one of them. Not just Arlis."

Charlie let out a deep breath, "I'd like to request to be in on that op, Sir."

Jack let a hint of an evil little smile out, "Wouldn't have it any other way, Charlie. You coordinate with Michaels. He handles the legal and intel side of it, you're in charge of tactical. I'm sure Teal'c and Ferretti will be happy to lend a hand too."

\---------------

Jack was tired, and after settling things with Kawalsky and checking in with Walter that he had no other impeding crises he headed for his quarters to catch a nap.

He was surprised when he got there to see Daniel already curled up in the bed facing away from the door. It struck Jack as odd, because if Daniel needed a nap, he was more likely to just plunk his head down on his desk and take one rather then find a bed.

Jack quietly slipped out of his boots and stretched out on the bed, savoring the feeling of being horizontal, it had been a while. He listened intently for a moment and realized that Daniel wasn't sleeping, he was pretending. And as he listened to Daniel's ragged breathing he realized that Daniel was crying. And that made his being here make more sense, he wanted to vent his emotions in private. And it also made Jack feel bad, he hadn't really taken Daniel's perspective on all of this or its effect on Daniel into consideration since the night Brooks showed up on their front step.

In the dark quarters, Jack said softly, "C'mere." It took a moment but there was a deep, ragged hitch from Daniel and moment later he rolled over and plastered himself to Jack.

They didn't speak, just held each other tightly until they finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

\---------------

The next couple of days passed in a flurry of activity at the SGC. A pair of off world missions had gone to hell in a hand basket and a new minor Goa'uld was huffing and puffing and trying to blow their iris in every couple of hours.

Jack had just not had the opportunity to get down to the infirmary to check on William and Ellie. He had however, finally gotten a very detailed report from Janet about Ellie and William's injuries, and after reading them he actually found himself hanging over the toilet in the men's room retching.

Ellie's didn't hold any big surprises for him, but his eyes kept going back to the the diagram in her file that Janet had painstakingly drawn in every bruise and whip mark and welt. Beaten and sodomized, yet she still insisted on taking care of William. William's injuries and condition were far worse than Ellie's, extremely emaciated and dehydrated he was very weak. Janet had concerns about liver and kidney failure as his body tried to heal itself. His prognosis wasn't the best.

\---------------

It had been another extremely long day and Jack knew that Daniel was already showering and trying to get some sleep in his officer's quarters. They had been staying on base the past few nights. Jack tried to pass it off as it was just too busy to go home, but Daniel knew it was because Arlis was still on the loose and Jack was worried about Daniel.

Jack finally left his office and had just gotten to the first bend in the corridor when Janet found him. "I was just coming to see you, Sir."

"Something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to give you an update. William's latest blood work came back, and the numbers actually improved. He's not completely out of the woods yet, but I think we've got him on the right path. Elle is the one that is worrying me a little."

"Why? I thought she was doing fine?" The worry shot through Jack like a dose of adrenaline.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I should have worded that better. Physically she's fine, but she's not sleeping unless I sedate her heavily. And she insists on sitting up next to William. It's like she doesn't trust anyone else to watch over him and protect him. Dr. Mackenzie is coming in the morning to talk to both of them and do an initial evaluation to see what their counseling needs are going to be."

"Whatever they need, Doc."

"Yes, Sir. I'll update you again after Dr. Mackenzie's evaluation."

Janet left him at another junction in the corridor and he paused and thought for a moment before heading to the commissary.

A short time later he strolled into the infirmary with a tray. He made his way over to where William and Ellie's beds were and saw her sitting in a hard plastic chair next to William's bed, her head wearily resting on the metal bars of side rail of his bed.

William was out cold, and she should have been too. Her expression perked up a bit and she sat up when she saw Jack approach. He skillfully balanced the tray with one hand and grabbed another plastic chair and set it down next to Ellie.

Ellie looked at the tray to see a couple of mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies. Her eyes met his but before she could say anything he said, "Guard duty requires a snack," and handed her one of the mugs.

She wrapped her hands around the mug and replied softly, "Thank you, General."

"Think nothing of it, Ellie," he said lightly.

Her eyes were on her mug but he saw the little smile just before she took a sip. She finally looked up, "Edgar was the only one that ever called me that."

It took Jack a second to realize that she meant General O'Connell. And because he didn't want to cause her any more emotion pain he asked, "Do you me to stop?"

"No, I actually prefer Ellie to Elle, General." He actually got to see the her grin this time.

"Then Ellie you are. And I want you to call me Jack, okay?"

"Okay. Jack."

They munched on cookies and just sat quietly, neither feeling any reason to try and force conversation. He saw a look of pain cross her features and she asked in a small voice, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"How did Edgar die? The officer that came to get his car told me he was dead but wouldn't tell me anything else. And then..."

And then her life had been turned into hell, Jack thought. He answered gently, "He had a stroke. He died instantly, he didn't suffer."

She nodded but didn't say anything.

Another quiet minute passed and it was Jack's turn to ask, "Can I ask you something?"

At her nod he continued, "Was Edgar your father?"

She shook her head, "He raised me, and loved me like a father, but if you mean was he my biological father then the answer is no. I don't know who my biological father was. My mother died when I was a child and Edgar never told me."

William shifted in his sleep and her attention was immediately drawn to him, she watched as he settled himself in a new position without waking up before turning her attention back to Jack.

"He's safe here, Ellie. So are you. You don't have to stay up all night and wear yourself down watching over him. So why don't you go to bed and get some rest."

She looked down at her empty mug and bit her lip before mumbling, "I can't."

"There are two big, tough airmen at the door that won't let Arlis or anyone else hurt either of you, I promise."

"But..." she hesitated.

"But what, Ellie?" he prodded.

She met his eyes and he saw fear in them for the first time, but not fear for herself, fear for William. "How do I know they weren't some of the men that Arlis used to let hurt Billy. I know the ones that hurt me. But he let so many of them hurt Billy. I don't know who they all are. What if they find him here?"

This was the first time either Ellie or Billy had provided any sort of information about their captivity and it took all of Jack's special ops training not to let the rage show on his face. The idea that more than one person had hurt her, had dared touch her made him see red instantly. And as for Billy, he kept seeing Daniel's face on that battered and violated body and the guilt that he felt over not killing Arlis years ago knew no bounds.

Jack didn't want to ask the question but he couldn't stop himself, "Ellie, how many?"

"Arlis and three others. But I don't their names."

"And Billy?"

"I don't know, a lot more than three, I know that much."

She looked so small and tired and broken sitting there, Jack wanted to pull her close like he did with Daniel and just hold her, and make her feel safe again. But he had to remind himself that she wasn't his in that way, and that the last thing that she would want was another strange man touching her.

He thought hard for a minute about how to possibly make her feel safe enough to go to sleep. He had a sudden flash of inspiration and asked her, "Ellie, do you remember Sergeant Brooks?"

"Yes, he's the one that found me." The corners of her mouth quirked up a little at the mention of the imposing Marine.

"That's the guy. If I have him come and hang out down here can I convince you to get some sleep?"

She nodded and Jack stood up with tray in hand and went to make a call. He knew that Brooks was working in the SOO office on the night shift. Michaels had ecstatically pulled Brooks into his department and put him to work studying for the SOO certification exam. Until he was certified he couldn't pull slaves or make arrests, but he could handle administrative tasks in the office for Michaels on the night shift while he studied. Jack saw no reason why he couldn't study here in the quiet infirmary. It was times like this it was good to be the General.

While he was on the phone, Ellie had gone and used the bathroom and upon her return Jack was glad to see her climb up into her own bed rather than heading back to the hard chair.

After depositing the tray on a handy table, Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way over to her bedside, "Brooks will be here in a few minutes. He'll take care of things while you get some sleep."

She nodded and Jack noticed that she had taken off the blue standard issue infirmary bathrobe before getting into bed and he saw that she had a set of dog tags with a general's star on them, Michaels had been quick in getting everything processed for their claim. Ellie didn't lay down and she was fidgeting with her hands and she asked quietly, "Jack, what's... what's going to happen to us?

"Honestly I don't know yet. All I want you to worry about though is getting well, and remembering that you're safe now. I've claimed both you and Billy and once you are both back on your feet we can figure out what to do next."

"I won't be able to go home again, will I?"

"No. Not the home you used to know. I'm sorry. I don't know what the situation is out in California with O'Connell's estate, Ellie. But I'll find out tomorrow for you."

He took in her crestfallen expression as she studied her hands and quickly added, "Ellie, look at me." When her eyes raised to his, he continued, "Things _are_ going to work out. Trust me okay?"

She nodded and lay back and pulled up the blanket. Jack saw Brooks enter the infirmary and met him near the door. After Jack quickly explained the situation Brooks looked towards Ellie's bed and smiled at her, then he set himself up near the door in one of the plastic chairs with one of the bedside tables holding his study materials.

Jack stepped back over to Ellie and said, "You are officially relieved of guard duty for tonight. Now get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow."

He turned to go when he hear her call his name, "Jack?"

He made an about face and met her eyes as she continued, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Everything." she replied with a shrug.

He gave her a little wink and turned and left the infirmary, heading for his quarters to catch some sleep.

\---------------

  
Daniel was still awake and reading in bed, and Jack took a moment to appreciate his broad naked chest that was bathed in the gentle light of the bedside lamp. They hadn't made love since this whole nasty situation had arisen, and Jack felt a painful need to reconnect physically with Daniel. He made his way to sit on Daniel's side of the bed and gently tugged the book out his hands and slipped off his glasses, placing both of the them carefully on the nightstand. He then took Daniel's face in his hands and kissed him.

It was a kiss full of love and longing, but also full of stress and pain. He wanted to lose himself in Daniel, to not have to think about or remember the horrors he had been shown over the past week.

Daniel made short work out of getting Jack out of his clothes and went to switch off the light when Jack's hand stopped him, "Leave it on. I need to see you."

Daniel ran a thumb over Jack's lips and nodded gently. He knew Jack was on the edge of something, his need rolling off of him in waves. Jack had purposely kept most of the information about Arlis' crimes to himself, shielding Daniel from the brutality. There were no words that Daniel could say that would make Jack's burden or self-imposed guilt any less, and besides when they were skin to skin, words weren't necessary, their touch saying all that needed to be said, and strength passing from one to the other.

Jack's hands and mouth mapped what felt like every inch of his unmarred skin, so opposite his look-a-like in the infirmary, and Daniel felt cherished and adored. And when Jack finally pushed inside of him and they moved together as one, he had never felt closer to Jack. Jack's strong hand had closed around Daniel's aching cock and with tight, firm strokes that matched his deep thrusting, he pulled a soul searing orgasm out of Daniel just as his own hit.

Neither quite had the energy to make it all the way to the bathroom for a towel, so they mopped up a little with Jack's dirty t-shirt and pulled the covers up over them. Jack was lying with his head on Daniel's chest, and he was fingering the pledge cuff on Daniel's wrist.

Daniel's other hand was gently stroking through Jack's hair. He said softly, "It's not your fault you know."

"You stealing my lines now?" Jack replied.

"Maybe. It's true though."

Jack was very quiet for an extended moment, and Daniel just gave him time to put his words together, knowing that Jack needed to get out whatever it was that was eating him up inside.

"She said there were three others besides Arlis."

It took Daniel a second to register what exactly Jack meant. "You spoke with her?" He himself hadn't been back to the infirmary, not wanting to cause William any further stress.

In halting words Jack relayed his conversation with Ellie. He ended with, "She's so... strong, and she's not afraid for herself, just Billy. I just don't know if I did the right thing or not."

"She trusts you, Jack. And she needs to rest, to heal, so what you did to make that happen _was_ the right thing."

Jack didn't reply and Daniel just kept stroking his head. He thought about Jack's little slip in calling Elle, Ellie and some of Jack's other physical and verbal cues from the past few days and it all clicked in his head, "You're attracted to her, aren't you?"

Jack stilled and Daniel wondered for a minute if if had gone too far, pushed the limit when Jack sighed, "No, yes, no, oh hell, I don't know. There's just something about her that makes me want to keep her safe and maybe make her smile again. I wish..."

"You wish what?" Daniel prompted gently.

"I wish we had met her before all this, that's all."

Daniel suspected there was more to it than that but Jack reached over and shut off of the light, signaling that he didn't want to talk about it any more.

\---------------  
tbc...


	4. Chapter 4

Dr. Mackenzie regarded the woman sitting across the table from him. They were having their initial consultation in one of the quarantine rooms near the infirmary, Elle hadn't wanted to be too far away from William in case he panicked again.

She was being open and honest with him, something unusual for him, most of the military personnel and slaves that he worked with resisted his efforts. They had talked a little about how she was feeling physically, he noted from the infirmary notes that unless she was given a sedative, she wouldn't sleep. Not unusual in his opinion, and he wasn't concerned about it in the immediate future, in the long term it was something to address. He could only imagine the terrors in her dreams. No one deserved to be hurt and abused like her or William, no one.

There was a gentleness about her, an innocence, but he could also see the strength beneath the surface. The strength she was drawing on to try and get through the nightmare she had found herself in. That same strength reared its head when she asked quietly, "You all want to know exactly what happened don't you?"

"Everyone here wants to find the men that did this to you both, and any information you can give them will help them do that, but only when you're ready. And my job is to give you the tools you need to move ahead and hopefully put this behind you."

She nodded, but fell silent.

Mackenzie asked gently, "How are you getting along with everyone here on the base? It must be a lot different than you're used to."

Her expression brightened the littlest of bits, "We didn't have many visitors at Edgar's compound. It was very quiet and peaceful. So I'm not used to having so many people around all the time, but it's okay. Although I really miss the trees and the fresh air."

"Dr. Fraiser noted that you don't seem comfortable with the female officers in the infirmary."

Ellie's frown was back, "I don't know many women. We never had female visitors at the compound, so I guess I just don't know how to relate to them. I was raised to know how to keep a home and be well read so that someday I would pledge an officer and be an asset to him and his career. I would have his children and be his gracious hostess. But all the things I know how to do aren't anything like the important jobs the women here have. I just feel very out of place around them.

She was holding something back Mackenzie could tell and he prodded a bit, "There's something else though, isn't there?"

Her hand played with the dog tags hanging around her neck and she dropped her eyes before saying quietly, "You wouldn't understand."

"I won't unless you tell me."

"They're all so... perfect...," Her voice trailed off and Mackenzie gave her a moment to continue, this was the first crack in her self-imposed armor that he had seen, and he wanted to let her share things at her own pace, "When the men look at me, I can see anger in their eyes over what was done to me. With the women, all I see is pity. And I can't stand it. They stand there in their crisp, clean uniforms and all I see is horror and pity on their faces and it makes me feel so... dirty. It's like I'll never be clean in their eyes, like I'm always going to be something broken and pitiful."

"No one thinks that, Elle."

She gripped the dog tags so hard her knuckles were white and she just said sadly, "What if they're right? Edgar's gone. My home is gone. Everything I know is useless, because no officer in his right mind would pledge me now. I have no future."

\---------------

Neither Ellie or Mackenzie knew it, but Jack and Daniel had slipped into the dark observation room above them. It was Jack's right to observe without question, those were after all his tags around her neck. But in reality the only reason they were observing was to make sure that Mackenzie was treating Ellie well, and heaven help him if he wasn't .

This was Daniel's first time in really seeing a coherent Elle. He noted with a linguist's ear that she had a very pleasant diction, her voice clear and pleasant. Physically she looked so much better than the last time he had seen her, the bruises on her face almost gone and she looked like she had gained a couple of pounds, her face not quite as gaunt. She was graceful and beautiful and Daniel could see why Jack was attracted to her. And as he listened to her sad words, a fresh wave of guilt washed over him.

Jack's hands were shoved deep in his pockets as they watched, tightly fisted, belying the calm expression on his face. His voice was sad as he asked Daniel quietly, "You don't think the women really think that do you?"

Daniel sighed, "No. There is probably a lot of compassion with maybe some pity mixed in, but I can't imagine any of them thinking that she's pitiful. That's most likely more how she views herself right now. She's got a lot to work through between General O'Connell's death then being kidnapped and tortured, and now being here in this strange environment."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, you know you never have to ask."

Daniel nodded and looked down and collected his words before looking back up to meet Jack's eyes, "Do you honestly think any officer will ever ask for her pledge now? Someone that will give her a home and children and honestly care about her?"

"Why wouldn't someone? What happened to her isn't her fault. She's a strong and beautiful woman that'd make any officer proud to call her his. Any decent officer would know that."

Daniel held the tip of his tongue between his teeth for a second before asking lightly, "You wouldn't happen to want that decent officer to be you by any chance?"

Jack had turned back to the glass and his answer was soft, "Yeah, I think I might." Before Daniel could respond, Jack sighed and continued, "But it's moot point. You and I talked about bringing a woman into our home that we were both, you know, compatible with and attracted to and start a family. Something that is going to involve said woman having sex with both of us, not just me. Somehow I can't imagine after all she's been through that Ellie's going to be particularly receptive to that idea. And who could blame her?"

Daniel stepped to stand beside Jack at the glass and reached over to place a light hand on Jack's back. "I think Elle... Ellie, is going to need a lot of patience and understanding as she works through everything. It's not just the physical torture that she's got to overcome, Jack. She's lost everything, her home, the only father she ever knew, and not to mention the security those things brought her. I'm not an expert but I think a calm and stable home where she'll have the freedom to acclimate and adapt and regain her equilibrium at her own pace with people around her that genuinely care about her will probably be the best thing for her in the long run. And I can't think of anywhere that fits the bill for that better than our home. And if at some point she's comfortable having a physical relationship with you, all the better. For the both of you."

"You've been thinking about this I see," Jack replied.

"A little. I've just... I've just never seen you quite like this with anyone before. And I would hate for either of you to lose out on something that could be a good thing."

"But what about you?

"What about me?"

"You know what."

"Jack, the physical relationship I have with you is enough for me. More than enough. And as far as children go, you know I would love any child of yours like it was my own."

As they were talking they watched as McKenzie left the room at Ellie's request for a few minutes alone and they saw Ellie stand and walk away from the little table and the circle of light encompassing it. She went to the shadow covered corner where they saw her wrap one arm tightly around her middle and clamp her other hand over her mouth. That hand didn't contain the first of her heartrending sobs however and before Jack could reply to Daniel's last comment his feet were turning him towards the door. "I'm going down there," Jack stated.

Daniel nodded in agreement and Jack started walking out. He paused in the doorway though, and said quietly without turning back around, "You're wrong about something, you know. I have been like this with someone else before."

The look Daniel shot Jack's back was questioning and he asked simply, "Who?"

Jack didn't turn around and his response was just as simple, "You."

\---------------

When Jack quietly entered the room Ellie tried to stifle her crying but wasn't successful. Jack simply held his arms open and said gently, "C'mere."

Ellie didn't hesitate to step into the circle of Jack's embrace and her tears started with renewed vigor.

Up in the observation room Daniel, partially illuminated by the light from the door Jack left open as he left, watched Jack and Ellie.  Down below Jack lifted his sad eyes up to meet Daniel's as he held Ellie. Daniel gave Jack a wane smile before turning and leaving the observation room, giving Jack and Ellie privacy.

Jack held Ellie close and murmured what he hoped were soothing things as she let out her grief and sorrow. He stood fast when the angry rage followed and she pounded on his chest. And when all her energy had been spent and she sagged against him, he scooped up her still-too-thin self and carried her back to her bed in the infirmary.

No one said a word at the sight of the general placing Ellie gently on her bed and pulling the covers up. She was completely spent, both emotionally and physically, and she fell asleep almost instantly. Jack stroked her hair a final time before stepping away from the bed and closing the privacy curtain around her. He let out a deep breath and scrubbed his face with his hands. When he dropped his hands his eyes found someone staring at him. William.

Jack saw William open his mouth as if to say something, only to snap it shut before anything came out. Jack took this as an invitation and stepped over to William's bedside.

"William?" Jack asked gently, not wanting to frighten the already traumatized man.

When William didn't say anything Jack added, "Ellie's fine, William. She just... well, she just needed to let out some of the stuff she had bottled up inside."

William nodded slightly and said in a whisper, "She trusts you."

Jack knew that William hadn't spoken to anyone, including Ellie, since his eventful entrance into the infirmary and he wanted to tread lightly. "I hope so. I hope someday you'll trust me too. I promise that you both are safe here and no one will hurt you."

William nodded again but dropped his eyes to the blanket. What he said next was in such a low whisper Jack barely caught it, "I'm sorry."

Jack's face took on his best confused look and he asked, "Sorry for what?"

Jack watched as William's hands balled into fists and when he looked up and met Jack's eyes there were tears of anger brimming as he said through gritted teeth, "I couldn't stop him from hurting her. I tried. Honest, I tried."

"William... Billy. I want you to listen to me very, very carefully. None, and I mean none, of this is your fault. Arlis is a sick and twisted son of a bitch and he _will_ be getting what he deserves once we find him. That's another promise you can count on. And I don't want you wasting energy on blaming yourself, you hear me?"

William nodded and lifted up the dog tags he was wearing and asked, "You claimed me?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. You and Ellie both. Once you're both back up to a hundred percent we'll talk about where you might like to go. But for now just think of my claim as another part of that "keeping you safe" promise."

William nodded again and opened his mouth to say something but hesitated.

"You don't have to be afraid, if you've got something to say just say it."

William furrowed his brow and hesitated only a moment before asking, "That man from the video, Daniel. He really didn't kill him?"

Jack smiled and replied, "No. His name is Daniel Jackson. And that was really him that you saw when you first came into the infirmary. He's my pledged concubine."

William didn't quite grin, but his expression took on a pleased look as he answered, "Good."

Jack couldn't believe how coherent and talkative William was being. And though he didn't want to set William back in any way, he just had to ask, "Billy, did Arlis ever mention any buddies by name or maybe someplace he would go? Anything that you can tell me might help us find him."

Billy though hard for a moment, and his silence worried Jack. Had he pushed too far? When Billy lifted his eyes to meet Jack there was a hint of a stubborn tilt to Billy's chin as he answered, "Colonel Grove. Denver."

\---------------

tbc...


	5. Chapter 5

Jack was sitting at his desk trying to find his place in his paperwork again. A gate team had come back in hot and three of the four had significant injuries. Once he was sure that Janet's staff had them in safe hands he got out of their way and headed back to his office. He had almost gotten Walter's carefully prepared stacks back in order when an elderly man leaning heavily on a cane burst into his office with a chagrined looking Major Paul Davis a step behind.

The old man was yelling at Davis over his shoulder as they entered the room, "I already know about your precious Stargate. Who do you think wrote half your early intergalactic treaties. And I assure you the good general _will_ see me." The old man squared his gaze on Jack and asked without bothering to introduce himself, "Where is Gabrielle?"

Jack stood slowly, giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts. The man's accent and age and general appearance clicked in Jack's mind and he asked, "Ambassador Wagner, I presume?

\---------------

A few minutes later Jack, Paul Davis, and Ambassador Wagner were sitting in the conference room when Daniel and Major Michaels arrived. They sat and Paul Davis made the introductions.

Daniel was staring intently at the ambassador. And when the ambassador asked them to call him Gabe, Daniel asked quickly, "Is that short for Gabriel?"

"Yes. It is," the old man answered.

Daniel brow was furrowed and his face had the same look of concentration on it that he normally reserved for difficult translations and he stated, "You're her father. She's named after you."

"That is complicated. Now will someone please tell me how you found her and what her condition is? All I was told was that she was here in your infirmary."

Michaels gave a very glossed over version of events, but it was enough for Gabe to connect the dots himself. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them there was a cold fury burning in them. "I will kill him with my bare hands," he stated, shaking his gnarled fists in from of him.

Jack was sitting across from him and said quietly, "You're gonna have to get in line, sir. He's mine first. And honestly I'm not guaranteeing how much of him will be left when I'm done."

The tone of Jack's voice let the ambassador know that he wasn't kidding, and the hint of ice around the edges spoke of all the painful things Jack envisioned for Arlis. Gabe nodded slowly as his eyes probed Jack's. It struck Jack all at once that he was looking at Ellie's eyes.

Michaels cleared his throat and asked respectfully, "Ambassador, about Gabrielle. In our system we do not have you listed as her sire. Actually we don't have anyone listed as her sire. Are you in fact her father?"

"I cannot answer that."

Jack was certain even without confirmation that Wagner was in fact Ellie's father, but he also knew that if he admitted it on record that he stood the chance of being brought up on charges both here and back in Switzerland. Without special dispensation and a mound of paperwork, visiting nationals and dignitaries were not allowed to fraternize with slaves and there was no statute of limitations if it could be proven. But Jack felt that Ellie deserved the truth, and it was something he arrange. "Ambassador, I personally guarantee that everything you tell us here is off the record."

The old man took a sip of water from the glass that had been sitting in front of him on the table. His expression took a wistful look and he started his story, "I met Edgar O'Connell when I was seventeen years old. I came to spend a summer here as an exchange student as part of my international studies and his family was my host. Little did I know that I would meet the great love of my life. We were almost instantly drawn to each other. He had a brilliant military mind, and a wonderful sense of humor and we would spend hours debating world events and history. Through the years we stole away time together when we could. Edgar rose rapidly in rank, his talent and charisma made him stand out. And though we both occasionally took physical pleasure in others, our hearts remained true to one another. He refused out of that affection to pledge anyone, man or woman. But he wanted children and sought out and claimed a beautiful red-haired girl with a lovely smile and a warm and caring heart to bear them. Unfortunately Edgar found out that due to a childhood illness he wasn't able to have children of his own. And it broke his heart and in turn mine. But it was something I was able to do something about for him. And Gabrielle was the result. So you see gentlemen, it _is_ complicated. And while, yes, I in fact sired her, Edgar O'Connell was her father in every way that mattered."

\---------------

High on a hilltop overlooking the valley were Grove's house was located Brooks, Kawalsky, Teal'c, and Ferretti were reconnoitering.

"Damn. I don't see any sign of Arlis," Kawalsky said, lowering his binoculars away from his eyes.

"Me either, sir. But the amount of traffic going in and out of that house is definitely suspicious," Brooks replied respectfully.

Ferretti was still looking through the zoom lens on his camera and said as he hit the shutter button, "Hey now, _this_ is interesting."

Kawalsky quickly took his own look and whistled low. "This sort of changes things a little now doesn't it?

\---------------

Jack escorted the ambassador to a VIP room himself. They decided that Gabe's conversation with Ellie needed to be private and the busy infirmary wasn't the place.

Jack knew Ellie had been very withdrawn yesterday after her crying jag and he hoped that maybe seeing the man she had grown up thinking of as a pseudo-uncle would be good for her. What he saw when they reached the infirmary surprised him.

The entire infirmary was buzzing even more than usual. All the nurses and doctors were still working on the critically injured men that had arrived back through the gate earlier. Unfortunately that hadn't left anyone to deal with the more mundane needs of those patients that were bed bound. Jack found Ellie not in her own bed, but rather pitching in to help in her own way.

A few days ago a young Marine had been exposed to a venomous plant offworld and his exposed extremities, namely his hands and face, were covered in thick oozing lesions. He was heavily bandaged and wasn't able to see, feed himself, or even hold a cup to drink. His lunch tray had been delivered in the midst of all the chaos but he couldn't do anything with it. Ellie had seen his dilemma from her own bed and climbed out of her own despair to help him. Jack found her sitting on the edge of the young man's bed just as she was finishing up feeding him his lunch. Jack paused a moment and just watched her. And he was struck again by her graceful way. The young man must have said something funny because she actually smiled a bit and it made a funny little flutter in the pit of Jack's stomach.

Jack approached the bed and said lightly, "Jones, it's General O'Neill. How you feeling?"

"Doc Fraiser finally found something to stop the itch, sir, and I'm pretty sure she's giving me the good stuff in my i.v. cause my hands don't hurt like they did. And my stomach's stopped growling now that Nurse Ellie here helped me with my lunch. From what I can hear, it's a little busy around here."

"Yeah. Team came in hot. But looks like everyone's gonna be alright. If you're all done with your lunch do mind if I steal Ellie for a while?"

The young man nodded. And Ellie said, "Joe, I fixed up the water like I told you. It's in the middle of your tray table. I'll come and sit with you later on if you want."

"That'd be great. It's a little lonely here in the dark. Thanks, Ellie."

Jack had watched as Ellie had taken the top off of the little plastic water pitcher and stuck a straw in it turning it into a big, handled mug easily lifted by Joe's bandaged hands. Her quick thinking meant that there would be no more fumbling with little paper cups and wearing water for Joe.

Jack watched as she got rid of the used lunch tray and washed her hands. Given that she was wearing a set of scrubs and a pair of little white sneakers instead of pajamas or a hospital gown she could have easily been any of the infirmary's staff.

When she rejoined Jack he teased lightly, "Keep that kind of thing up and Fraiser's gonna put you to work."

He got a little grin and shrug in return and she replied, "I like to keep busy. I'm really not used to sitting around."

They started walking and Jack brought up why he had come and gotten her. "Ellie, there's someone here to see you. Do you know an Ambassador Wagner?"

This time the smile he received was blinding and he knew he was done for, the only other person whose smile could make his stomach flip like that was Daniel. It took him a second to realize that they had paused in the corridor. Ellie grasped his arm and asked in a whisper, almost as if she were afraid to believe it were true, "Gabriel is here?"

"Yeah. He's waiting in on of the VIP rooms for us."

He could practically see the gears whirling in her head and a moment later her happy expression dropped and she tore her eyes away from Jack's to stare at the floor instead. "He knows what happened to me, doesn't he?"

Jack answered honestly, "Overall yes, but not every detail. He was very worried about you, Ellie."

Ellie closed her eyes and Jack saw her shoulders slump in defeat and a silent tear ran down her cheek. Jack crooked a finger under her chin and made her look at him as he said gently, "It wasn't your fault, Ellie. None of it. Gabriel knows that. And between you and me, he was so angry that he threatened to kill Arlis with his bare hands."

Ellie sniffed said wryly, "His arthritis is so bad he can barely hold a pen."

"Yeah, well, I told him he had to get in line anyway. I've got dibs," Jack quipped lightly, hoping to break the tension.

Ellie regarded him intently for a moment then quickly wiped her eyes with her hands. "I haven't cried this much since I was a little girl."

They started walking again and Jack teased, "Well I always say a good cry every fifteen years or so is good for a person."

Ellie gave him a little sideways look and just shook her head at his bad joke effort. They reached the elevator and as the doors were closing Jack asked something that had come to him earlier when he saw her in the infirmary. "Did you ever think about being a nurse?"

She considered that for a moment and replied, "I never really thought about having any sort of career. Wouldn't I need special training and schooling?"

"I don't know exactly, but we can ask Doc Fraiser once the infirmary settles back down. She'll know. Something to think about though huh?"

Ellie nodded.

\---------------

Brooks and Ferretti remained in Denver to keep Grove's house under surveillance. Teal'c and Kawalsky headed back to the SGC after a brief stop to a particular slave bunkhouse in Denver.

When Charlie entered the infirmary he could see the chaos that abounded. He caught a nurse in passing and inquired about which team had come in injured and the condition of the men. The curtain around Billy's bed was closed partway and he stuck his head in and said, "Knock, knock."

Billy looked up from the sports magazine that one of the nurses had found for him and met Charlie's eyes. There was a clarity in them that hadn't been there the last time Charlie saw Billy and he took that as a good sign. Jack had shared he and Billy's conversation with Charlie and it had relieved Charlie to hear that Billy hadn't retreated so far into his own head that he couldn't be reached.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Billy nodded and Charlie pushed the curtain back a little to reveal the large plastic tote that he was carrying. Billy didn't say anything but his look was questioning. Charlie put the tote down carefully on the end of the bed and explained. "I was in Denver running taking care of something for the general and made a little pit stop at your old bunkhouse to pick up your stuff."

Billy's eyes went to the tote and his hands reached for it briefly, only to pull back. Charlie encouraged him to open it if he wanted to. As Billy opened it hesitantly, Charlie said, "I didn't know if there was anything in there you might want while you're here in the infirmary. That box'll probably get in the way here but I can store it in the general's quarters or I... I could keep it for you if you want."

Billy stopped looking through the tote and met Charlie's eyes. "You'd keep it for me?"

"Yeah. Sure I will."

Billy pulled out a framed photograph of himself, a woman that had to be his sister, and a beautiful little girl that was about three. He gently ran a finger over the woman's face, a sad look taking up residence on his own.

Charlie said quietly, "I'm sorry about your sister."

A wane little smile crossed Billy's face and said, "This was taken two years ago, before we knew about the cancer."

"She was pretty. Who's the little girl?"

"My niece, Emma."

"She with her father now?"

Billy shook his head. "The officer that got my sister pregnant only wanted a son so when Emma was born a girl he refused to acknowledge her. She was in a slave children's home when I went to see my sister in the hospital."

That thought made Charlie seethe. Being an officer's child opened up a world of rights and privileges to a child, including the becoming of an officer themselves in the future. By refusing to acknowledge Emma, the officer that sired her had effectively bound her in slavery for life.

"What a prick. I'll never understand guys that don't take care of their kids."

Billy looked over at Charlie at his harsh words and Charlie shrugged and grinned. "Sorry. It just pisses me off, that's all."

Billy put the photo on his bedside table and went back to looking through the tote, he seemed to be looking for something in particular. He asked Charlie, "Do you have kids?"

Charlie was a little surprised at the personal question from Billy, but answered, "Nah. The work I do... well let's just say it hasn't been conducive to me settling down and having a family. But I like kids and they seem to like me. So who knows, maybe someday."

Billy finally pulled a thin, wooden box out of the tote and, without opening it, put it beside the photo on table. He closed the tote.

"That's all you want?" Charlie asked.

Billy nodded and Charlie said, "Okay. I'll just put this in my quarters for now. You need anything else out of it you just let me know."

Charlie picked it up and turned to leave when Billy said quietly, "Thanks, Charlie."

Charlie turned back around and gave Billy a grin and a silly wink and tried to ignore the odd little flare of something deep inside as Billy actually gave him an almost-smile in return.

\---------------

When they were bid to enter the VIP suite, Jack and Ellie opened the door to the sight of Gabriel pacing.

"Elle!" the old man exclaimed and instantly folded her into a breath-stealing embrace. Jack watched with amusement as they started conversing rapidly in German. He caught bits and pieces of things he understood but it was their body language that let Jack know that good ambassador hadn't just been putting on a good show for them earlier.

Jack cleared his throat and said, "I'll just leave you two to talk. There's an airman outside the door if you need anything."

And talk they did. They talked about Edgar and his funeral that Gabriel had attended. They talked about Edgar's estate and the compound out in California. They talked about Ellie's current situation. And finally Gabriel told her the story he had shared with the other's earlier.

Ellie was sitting next to Gabriel on the couch, stunned. "You're my _father_? And you and Edgar? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"We could not take the chance of anyone finding out, the consequences were too high."

"I understand that part, but why not the other? I used to feel so bad thinking that you both were so alone. And that you both deserved someone to love you. You could have told me that part."

"You are right. We should have."

Ellie tucked her feet up and laid her head in Gabriel's lap. He stroked her hair and teased, "You have not done this since you were about twelve."

"I don't know what to think or feel anymore, Gabriel. Everything I though I knew has been turned upside down." Her tears started fresh and her words were broken up by sniffling, "I miss Edgar, and I know it sounds stupid because she's been gone for so long, but I miss my mother. And I just want to go home and wake up to this all being a bad dream."

"It is not stupid, there are times that even to this day I miss my own mother."

"Did you both care for my mother at all or was it just...?"

Gabriel chuckled low, "Your mother was a beautiful and caring young woman. And she loved Edgar fiercely. She knew about Edgar and I and knew that though he loved her in his own way that he was not _in_ love with her. And she accepted that. They had a good life together and were content. Happy even. She and I got on well."

"Even though she was in love with Edgar, she was fine with being with... you to have me?"

Gabriel chuckled again. "I probably should not tell you this as there are things children do not necessarily need to know about their parents but I do not want you to have any wrong impressions about your conception and I am the only one left that can tell the story. Your mother passionately wanted to give Edgar the children he so desperately wanted. And when they could not make that happen between just the two of them and Edgar and I presented our solution your mother agreed, with one condition."

"What was that?"

"She wanted all three of us to participate. She insisted on it. And we did."

Ellie sat up quickly and met Gabriel's eyes again stunned by something the old man had said. "The _three_ of you? Together?"

Gabriel smiled gently and replied, "Yes. It was not a sordid thing, Elle. It was beautiful and passionate and the room you were conceived in was so full of love and hope that I thought for sure that roof would explode."

"I don't even know what to say to all that."

"You do not have to say anything, Gabrielle. I just wanted you know the truth. You deserve that."

Something in his statement caught her attention. "That's why I'm named after you. Edgar said it was because you were his oldest friend but it was really so much more than that."

"Yes."

Ellie stood up and did a little of her own pacing, trying to digest everything he had just told her. Gabriel watched her pace, her hand fisting the dog tags around her neck like they were some sort of lifeline. He had seen the way O'Neill had looked at Elle and he had seen fury and ice in the man's eyes in the conference room when they spoke of the man that had hurt her. O'Neill was good officer, a good man by all the accounts that Gabriel had been able to access and his escort, Paul Davis, had nothing but praise for the general. He wondered what Elle thought of O'Neill.

"I understand that General O'Neill has formally claimed you. Are you comfortable with that? With him?" he asked lightly.

Elle paused in her pacing and gave him a sort of half smile. "He's been very kind to me. And understanding."

Gabriel could see a faint blush on her cheeks. "Ah, so you _do_ like the general."

"In some ways he reminds me of Edgar. He takes care of everyone around him. But in other ways he's different. He keeps trying to make me laugh and sometimes his jokes are really bad. But he really listens to me and doesn't treat me like a slave. He actually seems to have a lot of the qualities Edgar and I used to list out whenever we talked about my pledging someone."

Gabriel nodded. He suspected that O'Neill and Edgar would have gotten along very well. "From what I have heard he is good man and a fine officer."

"I think so too."

She seemed a little sad and he asked, "What are you thinking?"

Ellie grimaced a bit and replied, "I just wish I had met him before all this, that's all."

\---------------  
tbc...


	6. Chapter 6

Daniel swung by the infirmary to pick up a refill of his allergy medication. He had meant to do it yesterday but the infirmary had been busy with the wounded soldiers and they had certainly taken priority over his stuffy nose. The doctor on duty dispensed what he needed with a smile and he turned to go back to his office. On his way he looked down the line of beds and found himself making eye contact with William. William's expression wasn't the look of abject terror from the first night, rather it was more curious, and Daniel tentatively walked towards his bed.

"Hello," Daniel said lightly as he reached William's bedside.

William had a thin flat box open on his tray table containing inexpensive colored pencils and drawing charcoal along with a couple of sketch pads. William had another sketch book in his hand that he carefully closed as Daniel approached.

"He... he told me that you were dead. That he killed you and would do the same to me." Williams tone was hesitant, but his words were matter-of-fact and straight to the point.

Daniel winced. "I don't know exactly how to respond to that. I can only imagine what other things he told you that weren't true. I am so sorry for everything that's happened to you."

"It wasn't your fault."

Daniel wasn't expecting the unsolicited absolution from William. He opened his mouth to reply then closed it again, not really knowing what to say.

William looked at the gold cuff on Daniel's wrist and reached up and tapped the tags hanging around his own neck and said, "General O'Neill... he claimed me and Elle."

"I know. He feels very strongly about protecting the both of you. Putting his tags on you is one of the ways he can do that."

William swallowed nervously and his voice was a mere whisper when he asked fearfully, "Does that mean he's going to want to... you know, with me?"

Daniel felt like he had been punched in the gut. "No, William, Jack... well, he doesn't use slaves that way, and he doesn't keep slaves either. He does claim some, like you, that he feels needs protecting, then he finds them a safe place to go or transfers them to another officer that will treat them with decency and respect."

"He kept you."

Daniel couldn't help but grin. "Only because I wanted to be kept. He and I care about each other very much, William, and there isn't anywhere else I would want to be."

"I've never had that."

"Neither had I before Jack. But trust me when I say that he will make sure that you will be happy wherever you end up, he's a little stubborn about things like that."

"Ellie too?"

"Definitely," deciding he wanted to steer the conversation away from Elle, Daniel asked, "So what are you drawing?"

William hesitated a moment before opening the sketchpad and showing Daniel the stunning charcoal drawing of a massive flower garden.

"Wow. This is fantastic. You have quite a gift. Is this someplace you've visited?"

William dropped his eyes to the blanket and his voice wavered a bit as he answered, "No. It was where I went... in my head when he was..."

Daniel's throat felt thick with emotion at that and he couldn't help but reply honestly, "I used to recite the history of the different Egyptian dynasties in mine."

William raised his head with a questioning look and Daniel nodded. Daniel handed him back the sketchpad and said, "So why a garden?"

"I... I like to be outside. I've been doing landscaping work since I was a teenager."

"Well if your real gardens look anything like the one in your drawing, I'd say you were good at it too."

William shrugged non-commitally, his confidence and self-esteem in tatters thanks to Arlis.

Daniel glanced at his watch and said, "I have to run, I've got a meeting in a few minutes, but I can come back later if you want. We can talk some more."

"I don't want to be any trouble."

Daniel worked hard to put as much compassion in his voice as he could, while avoiding pity, and said, "William, I know you may not believe this after everything you've been through, but no one here thinks that you're a burden. Nobody. Jack, Dr. Fraiser, Elle, me, and even Kawalsky, we all just to see you healthy and back on your feet. And whatever you need to do that, you just have to tell one of us, okay?"

William nodded and Daniel patted the railing of William's bed gently before turning to leave.

\---------------

The conference table was nearly full when Daniel arrived at the briefing room. He quickly poured himself a coffee and took his normal seat next to Jack. The mood in the room was somber, and as he looked around at the serious faces of Majors Davis and Michaels, Lieutenant Colonel Kawalsky, Sergeant Brooks, and two men he didn't know in suits with visitor badges, he knew that they had found Arlis and the others responsible for hurting Elle and William.

Jack cleared his throat, claiming everyone's utmost attention, and said, "Major Michaels, before I turn this meeting over to you, I have a personnel issue that I need to address." Jack stood and the rest of the men followed suit. "Sergeant Brooks, front and center."

Brooks quickly went to stand and face Jack at the head of the table, flushing a little under everyone's scrutiny.

"Sergeant Brooks, I've received the results of your Slave Oversight Officer certification exam, and I pleased to announce that you received a perfect score and are now hereby officially a federal Slave Oversight Officer for the United States Marine Corps."

Walter silently stepped forward from the corner of the room where he had been waiting and handed Jack the new lapel insignias for Brooks. Jack pinned them on and with a final salute he handed Brooks his badge and said, "Congratulations, Brooks."

"Thank you, sir, and thank you for recommending me for it, I won't let you down, sir."

"Of that I have no doubt, Sergeant," Jack replied with a pleased little smile and patted the young man on the shoulder.

The other men all offered Brooks their own congratulations and they reclaimed their seats at Jack's mention that they needed to get to the business at hand. When they were settled, Jack addressed Michaels, "You have the floor, Major."

"Thank you, General," he paused and glanced down at his notes before continuing, "As everyone in the room is aware, in our investigation of Captain Arlis we discovered a much bigger circle of corruption and slave abuse. In light of evidence gathered in Denver by Colonel Kawalsky, Major Ferretti, Sergeant Brooks, and Teal'c that points to several high-ranking Marine Corps officers I have asked NCIS to join the investigation. Although I have the authority as a federal Slave Oversight Officer to make arrests regardless of service branch or rank, I felt that having this be a joint operation would avoid any potential rumors of branch bias later on," he gestured towards one of the men in suits, a man about Jack's age with the same silver hair and intense blue eyes, "This is Special Agent Gibbs and his pledged concubine, Anthony DiNozzo. Agent Gibbs has the highest level of security clearance which is why they specifically were assigned to this case and they have both been read in on the Stargate Program and this command."

Jack said lightly, "Marine, Agent Gibbs?"

"Yes, sir, rank of Gunnery Sergeant, although my authority as an NCIS agent will supersede that in this investigation. Like Major Michaels, we are able to make arrests regardless of rank or branch when it comes to crimes committed by or against Naval or Marine personnel."

"Gotcha. Please continue, Major."

Michaels picked up a remote control from the conference table and activated the slide show of surveillance photos taken in Denver. "This house on Pleasantview Drive is owned by Colonel Grove." The photo on the screen showed a large, sprawling ranch style home behind a tall, sturdy, wrought-iron fence. Similar wrought iron work barred all of the windows.

Michaels continued, "The house, as you can see, is practically a fortress, designed to keep people in as well as out. Although I have no direct evidence and no witness corroboration, I believe that Colonel Grove is using _this _house as an illegal slave brothel. Right now, as it stands, I have no jurisdiction to enter this house. I've been trying to get statements out of some of the slaves that Grove turned in, the ones that were obviously abused, to get something that gives me cause, but none of them are talking. They are just too afraid."

Agent DiNozzo asked thoughtfully, "What about the two that were rescued, the ones that are here?"

"Given their physical and mental conditions, we have not conducted in depth formal interviews with them as of yet."

Jack interjected, "Those interviews are going to be conducted very, and I mean _very_, carefully. We're not going to add to their trauma in any way. Both William and Ellie have been tortured and brutalized enough already. I want to be perfectly clear about this."

Gibbs spoke up, "I think it's safe to say, General, that no one sitting at this table wants that either. We'll all tread lightly."

Jack nodded and Michaels continued after putting a new photo up on the screen, "These four men were invited into the house and spent approximately four hours inside. We've identified them as Marine Corps Lieutenant General Issac Rainey, Air Force Brigadier General Maxwell Haney, Marine Corp Colonel Marcus Ellington, and I believe most of you will recognize the fourth man..."

"Kinsey," Jack spat out flatly.

"Yes, sir. Currently _Senator _Robert Kinsey, but holds the Naval rank of Lieutenant Commander."

Michaels moved on to the next photo of them actually being shown into the house by a young male slave clad only in a pair of tight blue jeans. Daniel's keen eye picked up on something though and he asked, "What is that near his foot?"

Michaels grinned grimly at Daniel, "Nice catch, sir. It's not very clear in the pictures, but that is a chain fetter locked onto his ankle. It prevents him from leaving."

The distaste in everyone present was almost palatable and Michaels added, "They are not illegal when used within allowed guidelines. And from all appearances of the young man in the photos, he is clean, well-fed, and shows no immediate signs of physical abuse. As much as I hate fetters, I just don't have cause to do anything about it in this case. Colonel Grove also has a legal claim in the system for a young man whose description and photo matches this young man, so again, no cause."

Jack frowned and asked, "So where does that leave us?"

Michaels hesitated to answer, and Gibbs sighed and scrubbed his chin with his hand before he answered for Michaels, "We need to talk William and Ellie. And without leading their answers, we need to get some piece of evidence that will let us go and bust down that door."

\---------------

Ellie sat stiffly in the conference room chair. She was in another set of infirmary scrubs and someone had given her an Air Force zip-up sweatshirt to ward off the ever-present chill in the mountain. Jack thought she looked as well as they had ever seen her. Her bruises were gone and all but the deepest of the the whip cuts on her back had healed nicely according the the reports from Fraiser. She had spent most of the last few days with Ambassador Wagner in the VIP suite and the old man's company seemed to have lifted her spirit more than anyone could have expected. Jack just hoped that having her relive everything didn't set her back in her recovery.

Jack sat next to her and Gibbs and Michaels settled themselves across the table from them.

Michaels gave Ellie a little smile and said warmly, "You're looking well, Ellie."

"Thank you, Major."

Jack reached over and laid a hand on Ellie's and said gently, "Ellie, you know Major Michaels already, but this is Special Agent Gibbs with NCIS; he just joined the investigation and is going to be working with us."

She nodded but didn't say anything and Gibbs offered her his hand to shake and said lightly, "You can call me Jethro, Miss Foley."

Ellie shook his hand hesitantly and replied, "Only if you call me Ellie, Jethro."

He grinned and nodded.

Michael's brought their attention back to the matter at hand. "Ellie, I can only imagine how difficult this interview is going to be for you and if you need a break at any time just let us know. You have done absolutely nothing wrong and we don't want you to feel like this is an interrogation. We just need to know what happened, as much as you can remember. No detail is too small and no matter how silly you might think something sounds, we want to hear it anyway. Okay?"

"Yes, Major, I understand. Do you have specific questions you want me to try and answer first or should I just start at the beginning?"

"The beginning sounds like a good place to start, but if you think of something out of sequence along the way, don't hesitate to go off on a tangent."

Ellie's hand crept up and closed around the tags lying against her sweatshirt and she took a deep breath before starting, "Edgar... I mean General O'Connell was being presented with some sort of award for his past work in South Africa. He was so excited to go, but he couldn't take me with him... because of my status. So he left me home alone. He was only supposed to be gone three days. I didn't realize he had died the same day he left, and when he didn't call me I just assumed that he was busy with all the stuff going on out there. Two days later an officer arrived at the house to pick up Edgar's car..."

\---------------

Daniel, Tony, Brooks, and Kawalsky were heading for the infirmary to interview Billy. Before they entered the infirmary itself Kawalsky said, "Hold up a second, fellas."

They all paused and looked at him. His expression was a little stony and his tone serious as he said, "I'm going to take it personally if any one one of you upsets Billy. He's lived through something that no one should have ever had to live through and we're not, and I repeat, _not_ going to push him any further than he's comfortable with. Am I understood?"

Daniel could see Charlie's hands balled into angry fists and he reached over and put a gentle hand on Charlie's shoulder. "None of us want to cause him further trauma, Charlie, you know that. I spoke with Billy earlier and I think you might be surprised at how well he handles this. He's strong, he wouldn't have survived all that Arlis dished out to him if he wasn't."

The other two men didn't say a word and just watched Charlie's eyes meet Daniel's and hold them for a long moment before he nodded.

The four of them entered the infirmary and Daniel was thinking about the burning protective streak that Charlie seemed to have for Billy. It seemed to go beyond just righteous fury about what had happened to Billy, and he wondered if Jack had noticed. Daniel filed it away in his head to think about further later on when he had time.

Billy was sketching again when they reached his bedside and Charlie quickly made the introductions. When the four of them hesitated, Billy asked, "Where do you want to start?"

\---------------

Ellie's brow was furrowed as she recalled events. The men simply listened quietly and let her tell things at her own pace.

"A Major Landau knocked on the door and said that he had orders to collect the "late" General O'Connell's Air Force issued car. I told him that I thought it was mistake, that Edgar wasn't dead, he was just in Washington. He gave me a weird look and asked who I was, and told him my name. There was another man in a car waiting outside, I guess dropping off the Major so he could drive Edgar's car back. The Major told me he had to go out to the car and make a call to double check the orders. While I was waiting for him to do that, I went out into the side yard with Yogi, our Pomeranian."

She paused in her telling and swallowed hard before continuing, "About twenty minutes later or so, both men came around the side of the house. At first I wasn't concerned, but then I saw that they both had guns in their hands and the Major was sort of sneering at me. The next part happened so fast..."

Ellie turned her head to face Jack, gaining a little courage from the compassion she saw there. "Yogi must have picked up on some sort of bad vibe and went to bite the Major and the Major shot him. Then he just picked him up and tossed him into the brush pile near the shed. I couldn't move. And the next thing I knew the Major's gun was pointed at my face. They used duct tape on my hands and feet and more on my mouth so I couldn't scream and then they put me in the trunk of the car they came in."

Gibbs stood and thoughtfully poured her a glass of water and asked gently as he handed it to her, "You're doing great, Ellie. Do you need a break?"

She took the water and shook her head. "No, I'm okay. It's just really... hard."

\---------------

It was Tony that prompted Billy gently, "I'm really sorry about your sister, and I'm glad you were able to make it out there to see her. So maybe what happened after that is a good place to start."

Billy nodded and answered, "I got back to Denver a couple days later and I was trying to figure out how much trouble I was in. The SOO assigned to my slave barracks hated me and I knew that he would've reported me AWP. I was trying to make my way to the other side of the city to the main SOO office so I could turn myself in and maybe find an SOO that was willing to listen to my side of things. I was waiting for the bus when a big black SUV pulled up and two men with guns and tasers got out."

Tony asked, "Did you recognize either of them? Had you ever seen them before?"

Billy nodded and replied, "The man driving was Colonel Grove, I had seen him before hanging around with my barracks' SOO. I don't know who the other guy was. Colonel Grove told me that he knew I was AWP and that he was taking me into custody. They put shackles on me and handcuffs and threw me in the back of the SUV. We drove around for a couple of hours, and they grabbed two others, a young girl and another guy about my age."

It was Brooks turn to ask, "Do you know their names?"

Billy stared down at the blanket for a long moment, thinking hard and then looked up and answered, "The girl was Cathy... Jenkins I think her last name was, and the guy was Tom Miles."

"Thanks, Billy, that's a big help. When we're done here I'll see what I can find out," Brooks replied with a little nod of his head.

Tony prompted again, "So what happened after they had you all in the SUV?"

Billy let out a little breath and said, "We drove for a while. At first I didn't know where where we were. Then I started seeing signs and buildings that I knew. We were heading to the far side of Denver, out where all those new min-mansions are being built."

Charlie asked, "Had you been out there before?"

"Yeah. I, ah, I did the landscaping on General Forester's new house out there last year."

Charlie nodded and Billy continued, "We turned into the main entrance for the development, and then we took the first right. Pleasantview Drive. I don't know the house number but it was the third house on the left, a tan stucco ranch with a black iron gate and more black iron bars on all the windows and a poor half-dead douglas fir in the front yard."

Charlie, Tony, and Brooks all shared a look. Billy had just given them exactly what they needed.

\---------------

Ellie focused her eyes on the table and her voice was low as she continued her story, "I don't know how long I was in the trunk. They took me to someplace with a big barn. They pulled me out of the trunk and I spent two days I think handcuffed in one of the horse stalls. I only ever saw the Major. Then on the third day another man came with a van. There were no windows in the back of the van, and there was a..." her voice broke a little but she quickly cleared her throat and continued, "There was cage bolted down to floor in the back of the van. They put me in there and the new man gave the Major an envelope full of money. He counted it right there in front of me. Then the Major said... nevermind, it's not important."

Jack asked gently, "What did he say, Ellie."

Ellie closed her eyes and her lip was quivering violently as she replied, "He said not to worry, that the Colonel would make sure that I got..."

The tears streamed down her face and Jack pulled her in close as he announced, "Time for a break. Give us a minute guys."

The other two men quietly left the room and Ellie sobbed against Jack and he prompted again, "What he say, Ellie? Don't hold it in. Let it out and let it go."

Her voice was a harsh whisper against his chest amid her tears but her words were clear enough to make Jack see red, "He said that the Colonel would make sure that I got a good _fucking_," she emphasized the last word to make sure Jack knew it wasn't hers, and then added, "then he said he might even come to Denver himself for the bidding- just to see who got to take my virginity."

Fresh sobs wracked her body and Jack just held her tightly not saying a word. There was _nothing _he could say to make her feel better.

\---------------

Billy's hand was shaking a little as he picked up his cup and took a sip of water. Charlie asked him, "Billy, do you need a break?"

"No. I'm okay."

Charlie was surprised and pleased with how Billy seemed to be taking all of this, Daniel had been right, Billy _was _strong, probably stronger than any of them really knew.

Billy put his cup back down and took a moment to find his place in his thoughts before continuing. "They dragged the three of us into the house. They brought us downstairs to this big open room. There were couches along two walls and the rest of the room had all sorts of... bondage stuff. Colonel Grove told the girl that he already had a buyer for her. Then he told me the same thing. The other guy Tom... Grove said that since he wasn't a certified virgin that their wasn't any reason he couldn't be fucked right away."

The disgust was apparent on Billy face and his voice had a tinge of anger as he said, "Two big guys pulled him over to this bench and cuffed him facedown. They made us watch while Grove and the two guys raped him." Billy snorted lightly and added, "They didn't even undress him, they just cut a flap out of the back of his jeans."

Billy swallowed hard. "He screamed and screamed. And Grove just said that he could, because no one would hear. When they were done, they locked me in a bedroom upstairs. I tried but there was no way to get out. The next day, the door opened and Grove came in with Arlis and told me that Arlis had bought me and that I was supposed to do anything Arlis wanted. He left and Arlis..." He looked up at Daniel and said, "I can't... I just can't..."

"It's okay, Billy. Really. We know that part. Let's skip to the part where you ended up at Arlis' house."

"After two days at Grove's house, he brought me back to his house. I don't know exactly how long I was there. But after a few days he started bringing other men home and he let them... Anyway months went by, and then Arlis brought Ellie. I tried to protect her, but I couldn't and he hurt her and he let other men hurt her. They made me watch." Billy's voice broke on that and Charlie's hands fisted of their own accord.

With a firm set to his own jaw, Brooks asked, "Do you have any names? Would you recognize any of them if you saw pictures?"

Billy shook his head, "No names, just ranks," he met the big Marine's eyes and said, "I'll never forget their faces. Never. I can't. But I..."

His words failed him and he simply pulled a sketch pad out of the small stack on his bedside table and handed it to Brooks. "Will this help?"

Brooks opened it and sucked in a breath. There in crystal clear black and white sketches were the faces of the monsters that had abused him.

Charlie's voice was full of awe as he whispered, "God, Billy..."

\---------------  
tbc...


End file.
